Homemade Banana Pudding That Actually Tastes Like Bananas

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.