Banana Pudding Parfaits
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This banana pudding bucks tradition a bit but still tastes nostalgic and delicious.
Banana pudding is an old-fashioned Southern dessert traditionally made with layers of Nilla wafers, vanilla pudding, and sliced bananas. Depending on the cook, it’s either topped with baked meringue, sweetened whipped cream, or cookies. The most famous banana pudding is served at Magnolia Bakery in NYC. This version is a little fancier – it’s made with homemade rum-spiked vanilla pudding and served in parfait glasses. It also bucks tradition a bit by using shortbread cookies instead of Nilla wafers, but it still tastes nostalgic and delicious. The pudding requires a few hours to chill, and the parfaits are best made 3 to 4 hours ahead of time, so plan accordingly.
What you’ll need to make Banana Pudding Parfaits
How to make Banana Pudding Parfaits
Instead of the classic Nilla wafers, I use crumbled shortbread cookies because they have a rich, buttery flavor and stay crunchy even when completely covered with pudding. The crunch of the cookies against the creamy smoothness of the bananas and pudding is what makes these parfaits unique. If you want to stick with tradition and use Nilla Wafers, that’ll work too; just keep in mind that they will have a softer texture.
To begin, combine the egg yolks, the sugar, corn starch, and salt in a medium saucepan.
Whisk to combine.
Whisk in the milk and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
Once the mixture bubbles, turn the heat down and whisk constantly until the pudding thickens. Then, off the heat, add the butter, vanilla and rum.
Whisk until evenly combined.
Transfer the pudding to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for a few hours until cold. (Placing the plastic wrap directly over top keeps the pudding from forming a film.)
Or, if you’re in a hurry, you can place the pudding in an ice bath and whisk occasionally until cold.
Once the pudding is cold, whip the heavy cream.
Add the whipped cream to the pudding.
Gently fold it into the pudding and refrigerate until ready to assemble the parfaits.
To assemble, spoon a large dollop of pudding into the bottom of each glass. Cover with a layer of crumbled cookies and bananas and repeat, finishing with a layer of pudding.
Crush some of the cookies into crumbs and sprinkle over top of each parfait. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 12 hours.
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Banana Pudding Parfaits
This banana pudding bucks tradition a bit but still tastes nostalgic and delicious.
Ingredients
For the Pudding
- ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 egg yolks
- 3½ cups whole milk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ tablespoons dark rum
For the Sweetened Whipped Cream
- ¾ cup heavy cream, cold
- 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
For Assembling
- 4 bananas, very ripe but not mushy, sliced*
- 2 (5.3 oz) boxes Walkers Pure Butter Shortbread Cookies, or similar, broken into ¼-inch pieces
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, whisk the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and egg yolks. Whisk in the milk and bring to simmer, stirring frequently, over medium heat (it will take 5 to 8 minutes). When the mixture starts to bubble, turn the heat down to low and continue cooking, whisking constantly, for 1 to 2 minutes until the mixture thickens. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately whisk in the butter, vanilla and rum. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and place a piece of plastic wrap directly over the pudding to prevent a film from forming. Chill in the refrigerator until cool, a few hours. (To hurry it up, you can place the bowl in an ice bath and whisk occasionally until cold.)
- Once the pudding is cold, place the heavy cream in a medium mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, whip on medium-low speed until the whisk or beaters begin to leave tracks in the cream. Add the confectioners' sugar and whip until the cream holds medium, silky peaks. Go slowly towards the end; if it gets grainy or curdled, you’ve gone too far. Use a rubber spatula to fold the whipped cream into the cold pudding.
- Spoon a large dollop of the pudding mixture into the bottom of each parfait glass. Top with one layer of cookie pieces and one layer of sliced bananas. Repeat once and top with a final layer of pudding. Crumble some of the cookie pieces and sprinkle over top. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 12 hours.
- *Do not slice the bananas until you are ready to assemble the parfaits.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (8 servings)
- Calories: 573
- Fat: 27 g
- Saturated fat: 13 g
- Carbohydrates: 73 g
- Sugar: 45 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 8 g
- Sodium: 339 mg
- Cholesterol: 158 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Hi! Is it possible to replace the rum with cognac?
Sure Lora, that will work. Enjoy!
Hi Jenn,
Can lactose free milk be substituted for whole milk?
Sure J, that should work. Enjoy!
Hello,
Can the pudding be frozen after its made?
Hi Samantha, I wouldn’t recommend freezing the pudding here– sorry!
Yum, love it!!
Hi Jen, this recipe is fantastic! the pudding was delicious.. I used chocolate brownie cookies and it turned out really well! Gave it banoffee pie flavour and I also drizzled a little bit of salted caramel sauce on top! It was a hit! I cant wait to make this again!
Thanks
Sounds delicious!
It says 6 servings but I was wondering what size the parfait cups are or how many oz in total?
Hi Crystal, I’m guessing the glasses hold 13-14 ounces. Hope that helps!
Easy to make and delicious
Do you always make individual servings of these? Wonder how this will work in a trifle bowl. Will the texture be compromised?
Hi Susan, A trifle bowl would work great; texture will be the same 🙂
My new go to dessert recipe! Went really well with my bro’s smoked ribs! Southern dinner completed with these yummy pudding cups. I ended up doing parfaits in drinking glasses since I only have a pair of parfait glasses. My husband said it was restaurant quality! Do you have a good recipe for shortbread? Would like the whole thing homemade. I’ve seen recipe before – butter, sugar and flour but which ratio works best? And am guessing it needs to be baked thick like Walkers. I topped it with whipped cream. I’m putting shaved dark choc next time!
I made the banana pudding parfaits and love it! The dark rum really offset the flavors. It was a little too rich for a couple of my guest that evening so I would put it in smaller parfait glasses next time. Great flavor and love the texture with the Walker shortbread cookies.
I’ve never had banana pudding before so I was super excited to try this recipe. It turned out great except I didn’t use the walker shortbread cookies; instead I used almond windmill cookies from trader joes. I realized after that I probably should have used the walkers since they’re thicker and would have kept the crunch; the trader joes cookies got soggy fairly quickly. I also left out the rum since my taste testers included children. Can’t wait to make it again!