BANANAS FOSTER BANANA PUDDIN'

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Bananas Foster Banana Puddin’

Bananas Foster Banana Puddin’

The best of both banana worlds!

Yield: a heck of a lot (1 half hotel pan)

PREP IT!

For Bananas Foster:

• 4 Bananas, sliced into disks

• ½ stick Butter, salted

• 1 cup Brown sugar, dark

• ½ teaspoon Taste Tutor Brown Spice

• ½ cup Dark rum or Bourbon whiskey or any other type of whiskey (or ¼ cup banana liqueur and ¼ cup Rum)

For Fancy Pastry Cream (Vanilla Pudding):

• 4 ounces Cream cheese

• 2½ cups Whole milk

• 14 ounces Sweetened condensed milk

• 2 cups Heavy cream or Half & half (reserve 1 cup to whip)

• 1½ cups Sugar, granulated

• ¾ teaspoon Salt

• 6 tablespoons Cornstarch

• 5 teaspoons Flour, all purpose

• 6 large Egg yolks

• 3 large Eggs

• 1 tablespoon Vanilla extract

• 3 tablespoons Butter, salted

For Banana Puddin’ Assembly:

• 3 boxes Vanilla wafers or mini vanilla wafers

• 1 pouch Chessman cookies

• 3 large Bananas, fresh, sliced into disks

• 1 teaspoon Taste Tutor Brown Spice

MAKE IT!

For Bananas Foster:

1. In a large skillet, add butter, sugar, and Taste Tutor Brown Spice.

2. Place the pan over low heat. Heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. (Add the banana liqueur now if you’re using it.)

3. Add the bananas in the pan and cook until the bananas soften and begin to brown. Carefully add the alcohol to the pan.

4. Continue to cook the sauce until the rum is hot. If you have a gas range, tip the pan slightly to ignite the rum. If not, CAREFULLY!! use an extended lighter to light the alcohol on fire. If you ain’t bout either life, just cook the rum down until it reduces by half. It’ll still be delicious! Disclaimer: Taste Tutor IS NOT responsible for any fires!

5. When the flames stop, your bananas foster is done. Serve immediately as desired.
   Tip: Serve with 4 scoops ice cream or over pancakes, French toast, or waffles!

For Pastry Cream:

1. Place cream cheese, 2½ cups milk, sweetened condensed milk, half of the sugar, and all of the salt in a pot; bring to a low boil. Be careful not to scorch the milk; so stir it often.

2. Place cornstarch, flour, and the remaining sugar in a bowl; slowly add the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream and stir to form a smooth paste.

3. Add egg yolks and whole eggs to the cornstarch mixture. Combine well.

4. Temper the cornstarch mixture and add to boiling milk. *To temper, in this case, means to add a little bit of the hot liquid to the cold liquid to bring it up to a temperature where the eggs won’t cook once you add in the rest of the hot liquid. Does that make sense? If you don’t do this you will have sweet scrambled eggs and that’s gross. If you end up with some chunks in the pastry cream though, just strain it through a fine mesh strainer and it should be fine. No worries.

5. Bring the mixture back to a second boil, constantly stirring; cook for 3-5 minutes or until thickened.

6. Remove from the heat; stir in the vanilla extract and butter. Whisk well. Allow to cool before use.

7. Whip the remaining heavy cream until stiff peaks form and set aside in the refrigerator.

   
   Tips: This stuff can be used in recipes like banana pudding, fruit tarts (using desired pie crust), donut filling, Croissant filling, Pâte à Choux dough filling, and a plethora of other French style desserts.

For Banana Pudding Assembly:

1. Once pastry cream is completely cold, fold in half of the whipped cream until full incorporated into the pastry cream.

2. Spread a thin layer of pastry cream at the bottom of the pan, top with a layer of vanilla wafers, top with a layer of sliced bananas, and then a layer of vanilla wafers, and finally a layer of bananas foster. Repeat the steps until the pan is ¾ of the way full, ending with the bananas foster layer on top.

3. Top those layers with the remaining whipped cream and then with a neat layer of chessman cookies, crumbled up vanilla wafers, and sprinkle with Taste Tutor Brown Spice.

4. Chill banana pudding in the fridge 1-2 hours and serve cold.