Banana Pudding with Cream Cheese (or Mascarpone) and Condensed Milk
Banana pudding is a Southern classic, but this version is even better. Creamy pudding made with real bananas, layered with vanilla wafers, and finished with cream cheese, or mascarpone if you really want to take it up a notch. It’s rich, crowd-pleasing, and just the kind of dessert that disappears first at any gathering.
Equipment
- Casserole dish
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 5 bananas (medium)
- ¾ cup sweetened condensed milk (not an entire 14 oz can)
- 4 ounces cream cheese ((or mascarpone) room temp)
- 1 ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 3 cups Nilla Wafers (about ½ box)
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, add sugar, 1 tablespoon cornstarch and salt. Whisk in milk and egg. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking constantly for about 5 minutes. It should be pretty thick. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla, whisk until combined and place in a large bowl. Refrigerate while making the banana mixture.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sweetened condensed milk and cream cheese or mascarpone cheese until smooth. Add 1 banana chopped into small pieces. Fold this into the warm (but not hot) pudding mixture and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Once the pudding has cooled, in a separate bowl, beat heavy cream with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch until very stiff peaks form. You do not want it to be watery.
- Slice remaining bananas into thin slices, about ¼ inch thick.
- Gently fold ⅔’s of the whipped cream into the pudding. Reserve the rest of the whipped cream for the top.
- Spread ⅓ of the pudding into the bottom of an 8 x 8 casserole dish. Top with a layer of vanilla wafers, with a little space between them. Add a layer of ½ of the sliced bananas. Top with ⅓ of the pudding, another layer of vanilla wafers, a layer of bananas, and end with a layer of pudding. Cover with the reserved whipped cream.
- Crumble about ½ cup of vanilla wafers by placing them in a ziplock bag and crushing them with a rolling pin. Sprinkle them over the top of the whipped cream. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
Video
Barbara's Notes + Tips
- Be sure to let the pudding chill before adding the banana mixture or it will cook the bananas and have a fermented taste.
- The pudding should be refrigerated for a minimum of six hours before serving to allow the vanilla wafers to soften and take on an almost cake-like consistency.
- Beat the heavy cream until it forms stiff peaks but has not turned to butter. The cornstarch in the cream will keep it from becoming watering when layered in the pan.
Nutrition
Calories: 400kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 68mg | Sodium: 240mg | Potassium: 340mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 720IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 107mg | Iron: 0.3mg
