Banana Pudding
Someone brought this to an office party and got rave reviews. The recipe suggests making it in a pan, but it could also be layered like a trifle.
Someone brought this to an office party and got rave reviews. The recipe suggests making it in a pan, but it could also be layered like a trifle.
- Carbohydrate 50.5767531604806 g
- Cholesterol 46.7046343784701 mg
- Fat 15.0549927125285 g
- Fiber 1.65316664791107 g
- Protein 6.43631688716502 g
- Saturated Fat 9.58770101478647 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (119g)
- Sodium 298.009627390631 mg
- Sugar 48.9235865125695 g
- Trans Fat 3.1817724579957 g
- Calories 354 calories
Step-by-step
- Line 13X9 pan with 1 bag of the cookies.
- Add bananas to your liking.
- Beat milk with pudding mix.
- Separately, beat cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk together until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Combine with pudding.
- Pour mixture over the bananas. Cover with remaining cookies.
Standard recipes omit the chemical reality of assembling raw starches, dairy fats, and enzymatic fruits in a single dish. When instant pudding mix hydrates in cold milk, amylose molecules rapidly cross-link to form a solid gel, but adding softened cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk introduces heavy fats that require thorough mechanical emulsification to prevent separation. While butter cookies traditionally line the bottom of the pan, substituting vanilla wafers changes the moisture absorption rate entirely because smaller cookies possess a higher surface-area-to-mass ratio, causing them to soften much faster than denser butter biscuits.
Managing Moisture and Texture
Bananas release moisture rapidly once sliced, which compromises the structural integrity of the surrounding pudding layer unless treated or layered strategically. Whip the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk until completely smooth before incorporating the whipped topping, ensuring no lumps remain that could disrupt the mouthfeel. Chill the assembled dish for at least four hours to allow the cookies to soften uniformly without dissolving into mush.
- Use fully ripe bananas with minimal green on the stem, as starch has converted to sugar and won't taste chalky.
- If substituting low-fat cream cheese, reduce the milk by two tablespoons to maintain the required firmness.
- Consume within 48 hours of assembly before oxidation turns the banana slices brown and unappealing.
