This roasted banana pudding is flavored with both roasted bananas and dulce de leche in the pudding, sliced fresh bananas, and Lorna Doone Cookies. Makes an 11" x 7" tray, or you can make them as individual puddings in small glasses.
½cupdulce de leche(the thicker and darker, the more flavor)
1/4-1/2teaspoonfine sea salt(or to taste)
2teaspoonsvanilla
For the Dulce de Leche Topping
6oz3/4 block softened cream cheese
6ozdulce de leche(the thicker and darker, the more flavor)
3Tablespoonsgranulated sugar(or as sweet as you like)
½teaspoonfine sea salt(you want this part to be fairly assertively salted)
¼teaspoonvanilla
8ozheavy cream or whipping cream
To Build
A lot of cookies of your choice: vanilla wafersLorna Doones, Chessmen, etc
Banansas perfectly ripe as possible
Instructions
To Roast the Bananas
Remove the labels from the bananas but leave the skins on.
Place the bananas on a lined baking sheet and bake them at 350F for about 30 minutes. They will swell a bit and turn very dark brown all over.
Let them cool, then slit the skins and remove the sweet, roasted insides.
Puree the bananas and then press through a medium strainer. (For the smoothest pudding, please don't skip this step. If you're okay with chunkier pudding, then carry on without straining the bananas.)
For the Custard
Place the milk, yolks, cornstarch, sugar, dulce de leche, and salt in a large, heavy saucepan.
Put the banana puree and vanilla in a bowl large enough to hold the custard. Set a fine mesh strainer over the bowl and set aside convenient to the stove.
Heat the custard over medium heat, stirring or whisking constantly, until it comes just to a boil.
Keep at a low boil, whisking the whole time, for 2 minutes. The mixture will be quite thick.
Press the custard through the strainer and stir well to incorporate the roasted banana puree and the vanilla. Don;t forget to scrape the pudding off the bottom of the strainer--you don't want to leave any of that goodness behind!
Set the pudding aside to cool down a bit.
For the Topping
In your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the softened cream cheese until smooth, about 1 minute.
Add the dulce de leche and whip until creamy and well incorporated, scraping the bowl as necessary, about 2-3 minutes.
Add the sugar, salt, and vanilla, and beat another minute more.
Pour in 1/4 (about 2 ounces) of the whipping cream and beat for a few seconds until incorporated and thick.
Add another fourth of the cream and whip again.
Add the rest in two more additions, whipping for 20-30 seconds with each addition and scraping the bowl as necessary. The mixture should be thick and hold its shape.
To Build
It is entirely up to you how you layer in all of your ingredients, but here's how I made mine:
Spread a very thin layer of pudding in the bottom of the serving dish--using about 1/4-1/3 cup of pudding. Just enough to keep the cookies from sliding.
Add a layer of cookies, placing them close together.
Spread about 1 cup of custard over the cookies and top with a layer of sliced bananas.
Spread another cup of custard evenly over the bananas and top with another layer of cookies.
Spread another cup of custard evenly over the cookies and top with another layer of bananas.
Spread the last of the custard (there won't be much left) in a thin layer over the bananas. Top with another layer of cookies.
Spread or decoratively pipe the dulce de leche topping over the cookies.
Chill for at least four hours or overnight, depending on how much texture you want your cookies to have. They'll get softer the longer they sit.
Notes
YIELD
Makes a 7" x 11" pan of banana pudding. You can also make individual puddings in small glasses. For a super fancy presentation, you can build your pudding in a medium trifle bowl.
VARIATIONS
Add some cinnamon either to the pudding, the dulce de leche topping, or both. Consider using cinnamon Graham crackers as your cookies.
Use chocolate wafer cookies for a chocolate twist. I mean, it's already non-traditional, so why not go all-in? In that case, maybe drizzle on some homemade chocolate syrup before serving.
STORAGE
Chill for at least 4 hours before serving. Keep, tightly covered, in the fridge for up to 5 days. Do not freeze.