The Original NILLA Banana Pudding

Y'all. I love banana pudding. What southern girl doesn't? And I'm like, super particular about the kind of banana pudding I prefer. Must have vanilla pudding, not banana flavored pudding {yuck}. Must have merengue topping, not Cool Whip. And the ultimate requirement? Nilla wafers. No imitations allowed. None of that generic, store-bought nonsense, please. 

One day, I decided to tweet about my love of BP {follow me! @Priss_N_Pink}, which is especially strong in the summertime. Nilla Wafer's Twitter account, @NillaWafers, sympathized with my inability to turn down the banana goodness, and after a sweet little convo, they sent me these goodies! A box of cookies, recipe cards and a magnet to display them, and a cute little spatula to whip up some yummies whenever I want!

Their recipe for banana pudding is the best! I mean, of course it is...it's the original!

Original NILLA Banana Pudding

prep time: 30 min

total time: 50 min 

makes: 12 servings, 2/3 cup each

What you need:

3/4 cup sugar, divided

1/3 cup flour

Dash of salt

3 eggs, separated

2 cups milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla 

45 NILLA Wafers, divided

5 medium ripe bananas, sliced (about 3-1/2 cups) 

Make it: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix 1/2 cup of the sugar, flour and salt in top of double boiler. Blend in 3 egg yolks and milk. Cook, uncovered, over boiling water 10-12 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. 

Reserve 12 of the wafers for garnish. Spread small amount of custard onto bottom of 1-1/2-quart baking dish; cover with layers of 1/3 each of the remaining wafers and sliced bananas. Pour about 1/3 of the remaining custard over bananas. Continue to layer wafers, bananas and custard to make a total of 3 layers of each, ending with custard. 

Beat egg whites on high speed of electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Spoon over custard; spread evenly to cover entire surface of custard and sealing well to edge.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly. Top with reserved 12 wafers just before serving. 

**I was not compensated in any way for this blog post. All opinions and photos are my own.**