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Banana Pudding Tacos with Vanilla Wafer

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Before you go through this recipe you have to understand how to navigate through my style of cooking. I’m not trained, and chances are, neither are you. Therefore, the basic rules of cooking essentially don’t apply to me, and why should they? If the recipe ends up delicious, isn’t that enough? If you’re willing to go on a taste bud journey, but feel you don’t really have the skills in the kitchen, my recipes are definitely worth trying out.

So here we go with the rule breaking. I like using pre-made ingredients (in this case Jello pudding) and enhancing them to a point where no one would know the difference. Plus, who really makes pudding from scratch? We don’t have time for all that!

For the past few years I’ve been using every Tuesday to create a never before seen or tasted taco. I take a whole meal, treat, recipe, etc… and I use that as inspiration to make a taco. Normally, it’s all about the shell, but in this case, it’s all about the filling. Here, you get a super easy banana pudding, and easy vanilla waffle cone. When you put them together, you get an incredible dessert that will rival any other banana pudding you’ve had. The banana pudding has bananas throughout and vanilla wafers. The best part about the wafers, is that after this pudding rests for a while, they become soft and cake like. Banana pudding cake? Might have to turn that into a Championship Recipe, just like this one. recipechampions.com

INGREDIENTS:

10 snack packs (1 oz. each bag) mini Nilla Wafers
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (125g) granulated sugar, divided
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk or 1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3-4 firm, ripe bananas
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/4 cups (280g) heavy whipping cream
10 maraschino cherries
10 disposable Birchware spoons

DIRECTIONS:

Open each snack pack and pour half the contents of each bag into a large bowl. Stand the bags upright in a baking dish leaning against each other.
Open each snack pack and pour half the contents of each bag into a large bowl. Stand the bags upright in a baking dish leaning against each other.

Place 1/2 cup sugar, cornstarch and milk into a medium saucepan and whisk until combined. Cook over medium-high heat until the mixture begins to bubble, whisking constantly. Remove the saucepan from the heat and gradually pour the eggs into the pan in a thin stream (tempering them) while whisking vigorously. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until thick and smooth, again whisking constantly.

When the mixture is thick, remove from the heat and stir in the unsalted butter and vanilla. Stir constantly until the butter is melted and well-incorporated. Pour the pudding in a separate bowl and set aside to cool slightly.

Chop the bananas into rounds and toss them in a bowl with the lemon juice until all of the bananas are covered. This will prevent them from browning.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the heavy cream on high speed until it starts to thicken. Gradually add in the remaining 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a fancy decorator tip, if desired. Otherwise just have a spoon ready for dolloping.

Assembly:
Pour two rounded tablespoons of pudding over the wafers in each of the bags. Top with a few banana slices and more vanilla wafers. Layer one rounded tablespoon of pudding on top of the wafers, top with additional banana slices and wafers. Pipe or dollop whipped cream on top and garnish each bag with a maraschino cherry. Serve immediately or refrigerate for 1-2 hours so the wafers become soft. Place a disposable spoon in each bag before serving. 

Enjoy!