Browned Butter Banana Pudding
plus fun things from June 2022
Hi guys! I’ve been a little MIA for the past few weeks after taking a little unexpected break from our newsletters. We went on a very fun anniversary trip to NYC at the beginning of the month and I got sick when I came home. I was out of commission for about a week and then proceeded to spend the next two weeks playing catch up on all of the client work I needed to complete before deadlines, so putting the finishing touches on this recipe took a little longer than I anticipated. But I’m back! And I’m bringing banana pudding.
Growing up, if there was an event involving food happening in our family, you can bet that there would be banana pudding. Very classic banana pudding featuring ‘Nilla Wafers, bright yellow pudding from the little Jello boxes, lots of sliced bananas and Cool Whip. You really couldn’t go wrong.
For this recipe, I wanted to keep this recipe close to the classic—but as you know, I have to put my little Anna stamp on it. Since we can’t spend an entire month talking about pastry cream and not make pudding, we’ll start there. We have a very simple, vanilla and browned butter pudding; classic but with a little extra nuttiness. We kept the bananas and whipped cream traditional, but I subbed out the ‘Nilla Wafers for Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookies, something a bit more brown sugar forward. (You can 100% use any crunchy cookie that you’d like.)
It’s simple. It’s sweet. And it’s the perfect summer dessert for all of your food-centric gatherings.
You can find the full recipe at the end of this newsletter.
a few things I’m into lately…
cooking and eating
Honestly, being sick really takes all of the fun out of cooking. I was super congested for a few days there so I ate lots of garlic toast and quite a bit of our family’s secret cure-all soup, little tiny soup (aka: Italian chicken soup).
My plans for our time in NYC were to essentially hop from bakery to bakery, strolling past parks and sights along the way. We made it to Breads Bakery, Michaeli Bakery, Poppy’s Brooklyn, Librae Bakery, Russ and Daughters, and of course, Levain Bakery. We also had snacks at Miriam, wine and french fries at Buvette, a lot of pizza, and dinner with friends, so overall, a very successful trip.
watching, reading, and listening to
I found a little used bookstore about 15 minutes from our house last week. It had a great selection of books and everything was half-priced so I stocked up on a few summer reads. I grabbed Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty (good, but not my favorite of her books), Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams (the first of her books I’ve read and I really enjoyed it), and The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz (sort of a modern day Agatha Christie mystery). Summer reading is just the best.
Also, it’s June so you know I’m watching Love Island.
recently on the blog
There’s a really great recipe for Caramel Coconut Cashew Blondies (quite a mouthful) on the blog this week. They are gooey, and nutty, filled with white chocolate and one of our house favorites.
And Tahini has just been spending the summer sun bathing. What a life he has!
browned butter banana pudding
serves: 6-8, or one 10x7” dish
Ingredients:
for the custard:
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup (340 g) whole milk
1/2 cup (113 g) heavy cream
1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 tbsp vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean, scraped
for the whipped cream and assembly:
2 cups (454 g) heavy cream
1/2 cup (60 g) powdered sugar
pinch of salt
about 4 large bananas, sliced
one 7 oz package cookies of choice, about 24
Procedure:
Place butter in a small saucepan or skillet and set over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, for 6-7 minutes, until butter is foamy and fragrant and little brown specks begin to appear at the bottom. Immediately remove from heat and transfer to a bowl to cool.
Combine milk and heavy cream in a large saucepan and bring to a simmer.
While the milk/cream is heating, whisk together granulated sugar and cornstarch to remove clumps. Add the eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla to form a paste.
Gradually stream the hot milk into the egg/sugar mixture, while whisking continually. When all of the liquid has been added, transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and return to the heat.
Cook, stirring consistently, until the custard begins to bubble and thicken. Cook one minute more.
Pour the hot custard through a sieve into a clean bowl and whisk in the cooled, brown butter until smooth and homogenized. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard and transfer to the refrigerator to chill for about two hours, or until completely cooled.
When you’re ready to assemble, pour heavy cream, powdered sugar, and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whip on medium speed until medium peaks form. (a quick note: this is not an exceptionally sweet whipped cream, so taste it as you whip and add more powdered sugar if it suits you!)
Place a layer of cookies in the bottom of your serving dish. Top with a layer of sliced bananas, followed by half of the custard. Repeat each layer one more time, and then top with the whipped cream and garnish with cookie crumbs and sliced bananas. Chill for at least an hour to set before serving.