Alaskatastic Banana Pudding

Growing up in Alaska, a treat for me often meant Jell-O gelatin or pudding. Those little squarish boxes in the pantry just hummed with potential deliciousness. Chocolate pudding mix stirred with milk and an orange peel tasted of luxury. Cherry Jell-O, combined with a can of fruit cocktail and set in individual ramekins, became a crystalline, jewel-tone royal delicacy. My parents grew up eating this way, too. Jell-O gelatin and pudding, which became popular in the early Cold War era as Alaska’s population boomed, were shelf stable and versatile. If you had them in the pantry, you could always whip up dessert with a few simple ingredients—pretty handy, especially if you didn’t live close to a store. My family’s recipe boxes have dozens of iterations.

But: banana pudding—creamy, indulgent, tropical—was the grande dame of pudding-based pleasure. My mom made it trifle-style in a big glass mixing bowl with cooked pudding, bananas, Nilla wafers and, only sometimes, whipped cream. We would get home from school, stand in front of the open fridge and scoop it into our bowls, spoiling our dinners. The wafers grew softer and the pudding more banana-y with every hour. It never lasted long. Sure, it’s a dish associated with the South, but it is made for Alaska’s pantries and paltry grocery situations. You can buy just about every ingredient—including not-all-that-ripe bananas—at a village grocery anywhere. It’s also very tolerant of substitutions. Instant pudding can be made with water. Cool Whip subs in for whipped cream. Canned condensed milk gives it an addictive maltiness. Even our sad end-of-the-supply-line bananas play a featured role, as they don’t go brown quite so fast as ripe ones.

Old-Fashioned Banana Pudding Trifle

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Course Dessert

Servings 10 servings, modestly

Ingredients

  

• 2 standard-size (3.4-ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2¾ cups cold milk
• 1½ cups whipping cream
• 1 (16-ounce) package vanilla wafers
• 6–7 bananas, still slightly green, sliced, or more, depending on their size, about 4–5 cups

Instructions

 

• In a large bowl, whisk pudding mix with condensed and regular milk until smooth, then place bowl in refrigerator.
• Using a hand mixer on high, whip cream until peaks form. The pudding should be set by the time the cream is whipped (it usually takes about 10 minutes).
• Fold 2 cups of whipped cream into pudding mixture and mix until well combined, then place back in the fridge for 5 minutes.
• Crush 5 vanilla wafers and set aside. Slice bananas. In a highsided bowl, set down a layer of wafers, then a layer of bananas, then a generous layer of pudding mixture, continue for 3 layers, or more, depending on the shape of bowl, ending with the pudding mixture.
• Dollop remaining whipped cream on top and sprinkle with crushed wafers. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.