Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups whole milk
4 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
70 vanilla wafers
5 large bananas, ripe but firm
Whipped Cream
Directions - Banana Pudding Recipe:
Without heating, mix together sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a heavy saucepan. Gradually stir in whole milk. Next, thoroughly whisk in egg yolks. Cut butter into pieces and add to egg mixture.
Turn stovetop on - to a medium heat. Stirring constantly, heat mixture until it begins to thicken. Once thickening begins, reduce the heat to low. Stirring briskly, simmer for 1 minute.
Remove saucepan from heat, then gently stir in vanilla. Press plastic wrap directly onto surface of pudding. Set aside.
Peel and slice bananas about 1/4-inch thick. Line the bottom of a 10-inch glass pie pan with one-half of the vanilla wafers. Cover the wafers with half of the pudding. Layer in the 1/2 of the bananas, spacing evenly. Next, arrange a second layer of wafers over the pudding and bananas. Top with the remaining pudding and bananas.
Make sure that the bananas in the top layer are completely covered in pudding, so that they will not turn brown prematurely. Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the pudding, and refrigerate about 4 hours before serving. Serve with whipped cream spread on top of the pudding.
Recipe yields 8 - 10 servings of banana pudding.