Magnolia's Famous Banana Pudding

from the urbanhousewife



Ingredients:
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups ice cold water
1 3.4-ounce package Jell-O brand instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups of heavy cream
1 12-ounce box of Nabisco Nilla Wafers
4 cups sliced ripe bananas

Instructions:
In a small bowl, beat together the sweetened condensed milk & ice cold water with an electric mixer on medium speed. Beat until combined, about 1 minute.

Add the pudding mix & beat for about 2 minutes.

Cover & refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours or overnight before continuing. The pudding mixture must set properly for this recipe to work!

In the bowl of your Kitchenaid, other stand mixer, or any large bowl, whip the heavy cream on medium speed until stiff peaks form.

Gently fold the pudding mixture in to the whipped cream until no streaks of pudding remain.

Assemble the dessert in a large, wide 4 to 5 quart bowl, preferably glass.

Make a layer of 1/3 of the Nilla Wafers on the bottom of the bowl, overlapping is fine.

Add 1/3 of the sliced bananas on top of the wafers.

Add 1/3 of the pudding on top of the wafers & banana.

Repeat these layers twice more & use any additional Nilla Wafers to garnish the top of your dessert.

Cover the assembled dessert tightly with plastic wrap & return it to the refrigerator for 4 hours, but no longer than 8 hours, before serving!

My Notes:
First of all, I wish I had a photo of the assembled dessert- it was gorgeous! I just made a border of Nilla Wafers on top around the outside edge, but it looked so lovely in my vintage Pyrex.
I served this after 4 1/2 hours in the refrigerator & it was very tasty & uber addictive! I think a bit longer in the refrigerator could be nice to further break down the Nilla Wafers so they crumble throughout, but it's not something I'd require. Also, the only banana in this dish is the fresh cut bananas, so even my friends with banana aversions were able to enjoy the top layer of pudding & wafers.