Not Your Mama's Banana Pudding!

Ooooooh, doesn't that look divine?  Well, it is!!  It's hard to tell from the picture exactly what it is, but it is a dessert that the recipe calls banana pudding squares.  It's relatively simple, but  (of course), after making it I have a couple of ideas that I would do next time to kick it up a notch.  This time I followed the recipe except for the strawberries and chocolate (my addition).  Believe me, it's quite okay this way.

Do you like banana pudding?  My dad was raised in Kentucky during the depression and they were quite poor, but they lived on a farm and grew most of their food which was a blessing.  He was never much of a dessert eater (mostly a meat, potatoes, greens and beans kind of guy), but one of his all time favorites, as far as desserts go, was banana pudding.  My mom didn't make a lot of desserts, but once in a while she would whip up a banana pudding for Sunday dinner.  That always made dad happy.

This recipe is not your typical banana pudding and there is the perpetual argument whether to use Vanilla Wafers or graham crackers.  Dad was a Vanilla Wafer guy, so Vanilla Wafers it was.  This recipe also uses Vanilla Wafers.  I'm not a purist, so I can go with either one.

Did you know there is a banana pudding festival?  There sure is!  It will be held October 6, 2012 in Centerville, Tennessee, and here are the directions to get there just in case you want to go:

LOCATIONS/DIRECTIONS

East from Memphis or west from Nashville. Take I 40 to exit 148.
Turn South toward Centerville on Hy 50. Go 15.5 miles to Lower Shipp Bend RD.
Turn Left. Go 1 mile.
From I 65, take exit 46(Columbia/Chapel Hill) and go toward Columbia on Hwy. 421 about 12 miles. Take Hwy. 50 toward Centerville about 25 miles. Turn left on Hwy. 50 West, go 2 miles to Lower Shipps Bend Rd. and Turn right. Go 1 mile.
  In case you weren't aware, banana pudding is a Southern staple - more than a staple, it is expected.  Church dinners, Sunday dinner, summertime treats, pot lucks, nighttime snack - it's banana pudding!  Well, there are a few others, but banana pudding is mandatory - it is a necessity to have at least one banana pudding on the table!

The recipe I am using here comes from Kraft, Inc., and it can be made low fat and reduced calorie by using low fat cream cheese, lite Cool Whip and sugar free instant vanilla pudding.  But, where's the fun in that?   I went for the gusto!  Here is what you need.

Ingredients:

35-40 Vanilla wafers, crushed
1/4 stick butter, melted
12 ounce container cool whip
1 8 oz block cream cheese, room temperature
3-5 bananas depending on size
2 boxes vanilla instant pudding
3 cups cold milk

I used fresh strawberries and some dark chocolate to decorate the top.

First:

Crush 35-40 Vanilla Wafers.  I put them in a zip lock bag and crushed them with my rolling pin by rolling it back and forth over the bag.  Melt the 1/4 stick of butter in the microwave and add it to the Vanilla Wafers that you have placed in a small bowl.  Mix them together and put them in the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan.  They are still kind of loose and crumbly, not like a baked crust.

Put the pan in the refrigerator until ready to add other ingredients.

Next, mix the 8 oz block of cream cheese and 1.5 cups of Cool Whip.  I used my hand mixer to make sure it was well mixed.  Place big "blobs" of this mixture over the Vanilla Wafers and smooth it out.  Using the back of a spoon makes it easier.  It will look like the next two pictures.

Now, slice your bananas and cover the entire surface of the cream cheese/cool whip mixture.  I used 4 bananas because mine weren't very big.  You can just play it by ear.  I cut one up at a time and placed them so I didn't peel and cut too many.

Now, make the instant pudding by placing both packages in a deep bowl and adding 3 cups of cold milk.  I mixed it with a hand mixer until it began to thicken.  Pour it over the bananas and spread evenly over the entire pan.

I put the pan in the refrigerator for about an hour until the pudding was completely set.  I removed it from the "fridge" and put a nice coating of Cool Whip over the pudding mixture.  You may have a little Cool Whip left or feel free to use it all!  It's up to you.

This is where I got decorative  - and where I would make a few changes next time I make it.  I sliced some strawberries and placed them on the top so that when I cut the pudding into squares, each piece would have a strawberry in the middle.  Next time, I would put a layer of sliced strawberries over the bananas before adding the pudding.  The strawberries are scrumptious with the pudding!  Then, I would add a few more on top for decoration.

We had some dark chocolate wafers that we had bought at World Market, the kind with krispy things in them.  (yum)   I used a paring knife and cut them into small crumbles and sprinkled them over the top.  They make the pudding super extra special, but I would add some more next time!  Chocolate and strawberries with bananas make you think of what?  Banana split?  Uh huh?  That's right!  Oh My Goodness!  Now we have a whole new level of dessert!  Yes indeed!!  This is how it looks "inside."

If you let it get good and cold, it serves up into nice "squares."  Hence, the name.

I am sitting here eating a small mound of this delectable dessert while I type this blog post.  Let me tell you, it is more than good!  Talk about childhood memories with a kick!!  Wowee!  It is super good with a lovely cup of hot coffee too!  Now, you are probably drooling and looking around to see if you have any bananas in the house.  If not, run out now and get some.  You have got to try this one!

Everyday Donna


Things to Remember:

One of Elvis's favorite things was banana pudding!  : )

Tyler's Favorite Cookies

 Today is our youngest son's 24th birthday.  Where has the time gone?  I really don't know.  He came into our life as a very big surprise, but he has been a joy and a blessing to us.  We had two daughters aged 15 and 13, and a son aged 10 when Tyler was born.  He always thought he was grown up because he spent so much of his time with his siblings and their friends.  He was only one year old the summer of our hometown's first all city summer musical, Music Man.  Dress rehearsal week, he sat in my lap ever so still.  Watching, listening, learning. The next summer when he was 2,  he could sing tidbits of the songs from Hello Dolly by the end of that first week.  He was totally absorbed in all the acting, dancing and music that he was surrounded by.  He was in his first show at age 3 as a child in a burning house in The Outsiders.  That same year, he danced with the villagers from Anatevka in Fiddler on the Roof.  He looked like a cricket up on the stage, dancing in a circle with everyone, but he knew the choreography!  He was hooked.  

Tyler played basketball, baseball and football.  His grandpa took him to play golf and saw that he had lessons.  He is blessed with natural athletic ability, but when it came time to decide which sport to play in high school, he chose acting, singing and dancing.  What a surprise!  He also is blessed with a beautiful voice and participated in the school choir.  His athletic abilities give him a natural grace on stage.  

Now, he is all grown up, working in Nashville, writing songs, singing when the opportunity arises, others are singing his songs.  We went to lunch today, taking Tyler and his girlfriend to a terrific barbecue restaurant of his choosing.  I watched his easy smile, listened to his wicked sense of humor and admired his good looks.  How could it have possibly been 24 years ago.  Where is that sweet little boy with the curly hair, standing on the hearth of the fireplace singing into the poker from the fireplace tools?  

He is all grown up and his mother could not love him any more.

Because we were always on a limited budget, I did not buy many prepared foods - especially snack foods . Everything was baked from scratch.  Not only was it cheaper, it was healthier if that is possible when it comes to sweets.  At least there were no preservatives or corn syrup in what they ate.  I did sometimes cheat on frosting because of time constraints.  Tyler's favorite cookies are a from a recipe I found many, many years ago in a magazine.  Could not tell you what magazine any more.  The recipe is written in my book I started 41 years ago when we were first married.  It is tattered, stuffed full of cut out magazine recipes, and pieces of paper.  There are no empty pages to write on any more and haven't been for years.  I keep a rubber band around it to keep it from exploding. Whenever it was Tyler's turn to choose what I was going to bake, he always chose these cookies.  

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1 pkg large marshmallows, cut in half with kitchen scissors, approximately 18 whole marshmallows for 36 1/2 marshmallows.

1 can fudge frosting mix.

To make:

Sift dry ingredients together.  Beat well by hand vegetable oil, sugar, egg, vanilla, milk and add to dry ingredients. Do not use a mixer.  Add nuts.  Drop by spoonsful onto greased cookie sheet.  After baking 8 minutes at 350, remove from oven and press 1/2 marshmallow into each cookie.  Return to oven 2 minutes longer.  Cool and frost.  This recipe makes approximately 3 dozen cookies.

You can frost with homemade chocolate buttercream frosting, which I have done.  I  often use Duncan Hines fudge frosting.  It's quicker and easier.   This recipe doubles easily.   These cookies were always requested by our friends at get togethers.  They are really, really good!   The cookie has a brownie like texture and there is the hidden surprise of the marshmallow when you bite into them.  

Thanks for letting me walk down memory lane today.  I hope you will give Tyler's favorite cookies a try, especially if you have a birthday celebration anytime soon.   I know you will love them!!

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

There is nothing better than cookies and milk, unless it's cookies and a cup of hot coffee!  Yum!!  And, they will always make you think of someone you love.  

I Need CHOCOLATE

That sudden overwhelming urge comes over me.  I need chocolate and soon.  Ever have that feeling?  So, I asked Dan if he would eat something chocolate if I made it and without hesitation he replied "Yes!"
You know what that means?  Get out the baking stuff.

To me there is something so comforting about baking.  Measuring and mixing.  It makes me happy.  I baked my first cake from scratch when I was 10.  Yes, it was lopsided but good.  No one refused to eat it.  Well, it's Friday night and we need a treat so I am going to share the easiest cake recipe in the world with you.  Really.  It's so easy.

I always keep a few cake mixes in the pantry for emergencies and this is an emergency.  We need chocolate.....soon.  Here is the recipe and I bake it in a bundt pan.  You can bake it in a 9x13 if you want.  I just like the way it looks from a bundt pan.  Remember the scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding about the "boont" cake?  Still makes me laugh.  Anyway, here it is

1 chocolate cake mix
2 large eggs
1 21 oz. can of cherry pie filling

Yup, that's it.  Now mix them all together until there is no shiny egg showing or dry cake mix.  At this point, I spray my non-stick bundt pan with cooking spray just so the cake doesn't stick. Now, you can put the cake mix in the pan and spread evenly.  This is where you and I may part ways.  I  like to doctor my cake up a bit.  I add:

1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup flaked coconut
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, whichever I have on hand.

As Emeril says, we just took it up a notch...or two.

Mix any or all of the above ingredients into the cake mix and NOW pour it in the pan.  You may not like coconut, or nuts, or chocolate chips, or like us you may like all three.  It's your choice.   Bake at 350
until a toothpick comes out clean, about 35 minutes.  Let the cake cool and turn it onto a plate.  I put mine on my cake stand because it looks pretty.  Now, you can dust it with confectioner's sugar OR you can make a chocolate glaze first......which I do.  This is how you do it:

2 TBSP butter in small saucepan
approx. 1/2  cup confectioner's sugar
2 heaping TBSPs unsweetened cocoa
1 TBSP of milk at a time

Melt the butter over medium heat, stirring with wooden spoon so it doesn't burn.  Add confectioner's sugar, cocoa and 1 TBSP of milk.  Stir to combine all ingredients until it is chocolate in appearance and all lumps have disappeared.  Add just a little milk if necessary, like a tsp at a time.  The glaze needs to be pourable, not too thick.  When it is the desired consistency, remove pan from stove.

Pour chocolate glaze over the cake.  Dust with confectioner's sugar.  I use my tea strainer and put a couple teaspoons full of confectioner's sugar in it, rub the edge of the spoon back and forth over the sugar moving the strainer around the cake.  It looks like snow falling on your cake.  There is more control this way than if you use a sifter.  Or, you may have a shaker container that you fill with sugar and shake it on the cake.  Any of these ways will work.

Now, it's time to dig in.  This dense chocolaty cake is wonderful with a hot cup of coffee, a glass of cold milk, with ice cream or without.  However you like to eat it.  Any way will do and any way is delicious!

This is a good "go to" recipe when you need a cake in an emergency.  I have also made it with yellow cake mix which is delicious too.  It's your decision.  I just know it is quick and easy and especially great for a chocolate emergency.

This is also a great picnic cake which you could take to a Memorial Day gathering next weekend. You could even make cupcakes to take.  Everyone loves cupcakes.   I may make this and some good homemade vanilla ice cream to take to a gathering we are going to attend.  Or maybe a strawberry dream cake, or strawberry shortcake, or whatever strikes my fancy next weekend.  Anyway, give this recipe a try and I hope you will enjoy it.

Everyday Donna

Things to remember:

Love is all there is.