Magnolia's Famous Banana Pudding

I had wanted to try this recipe for over a year. Seriously, I bought the More from Magnolia cookbook last winter and marked the recipe, which is apparently the most popular dessert at the bakery after Magnolia’s vanilla cupcakes. Then when we visited the actual bakery – twice – on our vacation to New York last May and tasted the banana pudding, the desire to make it myself was validated. But I avoided making it, as it yields a gigantic quantity (serves 12-15!) and calls for an astonishing three cups of heavy cream. However, being in multiple online baking groups has taught me a few things, among them: I don’t need to make an entire recipe and I shouldn’t be afraid of a little heavy cream. So when I had leftover Nilla Wafers and condensed milk from my (mini) SMS Lemon Icebox Cakes, I knew just what I was making. (I did end up having to buy a second box of Nilla Wafers, though, since Mr. Penpen kept snacking on them.)







The combination of bananas, Nilla Wafers, vanilla pudding, and whipped cream pretty much makes this recipe is the epitome of comfort food. It’s delightfully sweet and creamy, and though the instructions say it should be consumed within eight hours of preparation, Mr. Penpen and I were in agreement that it’s even better after a couple days when the flavors have melded together and the Nilla wafers have softened up (just avert your eyes from the bananas, they get a little brown).



The ingredients are one 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk, 11/2 cups ice cold water, one 3.4-ounce package of instant vanilla pudding, 3 cups heavy cream, one box of Nabisco Nilla Wafers, and 4 cups of sliced banana. You can find the recipe (exactly as in the book) here, on Recipelink. I made a third of the recipe and got five healthy servings out of it. This recipe gets an 8.5 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort, giving it an EDR of 4.25.



And that’s a picture of the two of us on a sugar high outside the Magnolia Bakery in Greenwich Village.