Banana Pudding at Its Best

There are a lot of great things people think of when they think of the south. There’s the warm weather, the pretty girls, the deep Spiritual Beliefs, the emphasis on family and the great sports teams. But most of all, when people think of the south, they think of one thing: GREAT FOOD.

And one of the iconic southern staples that is always mentioned in that conversation is Banana Pudding.

We recently did a wedding rehearsal at the Belle Farm out in Sterrett. And like a lot of them are, the mother of the groom was both nervous and excited about hosting the party.

She was mostly worried about two things: she wanted the food tasting great, and the presentation had to be amazing. Sometimes I had a hard time telling what was more important.

To meet both of her needs, we decided to bust out an old southern classic. With the banana pudding, she wanted it to be in individual servings. The look would be more appealing to the guests and a little easier.  

The setting was incredible. The venue was nestled next to a small pond tucked away in the woods of central Alabama. 

The look and feel of the evening was a “fancy rustic”, which means nice and classy but with wood elements all around.

So, we decided to go with a mini mason jar for the banana pudding. We decorated the table with an old cedar stump I bought in north Alabama. I sanded and lacquered it to look amazing. We used lanterns and greenery to bring in some color.

As for the recipe, this is an old one. The story behind this is that we were at a friend’s lake house just outside of Ocala in a town called Ocklawaha. It is a beautiful southern town with Spanish moss trees and clear lakes and in the dead of summer, it’s hotter than seven hells.

While staying there at my friend's house, we were snooping in one of the pantries and found a recipe box that was filled with recipes on index cards. This recipe was stained and faded, the edges were tattered and there were smudges from use all over it.

It was obvious it had been used many times over the years.

We made it once in 2001 and we have kept making it ever since.  

Enjoy this recipe and comment below to let us know how it turned out!

Banana Pudding

•       2 (3.4 oz) packages of instant vanilla pudding mix
•       1 c. milk
•       1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
•       1 (8 oz) container sour cream
•       1 (8 oz) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
•       6 bananas, sliced
•       ½ (12 oz) package vanilla wafers

•       IN a medium bowl, combine pudding mix and milk then stir until dissolved.  Refrigerate 15 minutes, until partially set.
•       Stir condensed milk into pudding mixture until smooth.  Fold in sour cream and whipped topping. Fold in bananas.
•       Make a single layer of vanilla wafers in the bottom of a 9x13 inch dish.  Spread pudding evenly over wafers. Crush remaining wafers and sprinkle on top.  Refrigerate until serving.

**Layer if necessary