Caramel Banana Pudding

 Yes, please.

In the Chevy BBQ Hunt post from June, we sampled an incredible banana pudding dessert at the final restaurant destination, Smoke. When I was searching through Gojee.com for my dinner night-in with Sarah, I saw this and was immediately taken back to the blissful bites of that velvety banana pudding, laced with caramel. All the signs pointed to "duh" so the dessert was an easy decision. Here is the final installment of our night!

Grocery List:
For Pudding

• 3 ripe bananas
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, tightly packed
• 2 1/2 cup milk (we used skim, recipe suggested whole. We like skim, do what you think is best)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tbsp. cornstarch

For Wafer Crumble

• 30 vanilla wafers
• 3 tsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. cardamom
• 1 pinch of salt
• 3 tbsp. unsalted butter 

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and stir well to combine until the sugar is melted, about three minutes. This is you "caramel". Scoop into a bowl and set aside.

Slice your bananas into 1/2 inch "coins".

In your small sauce pan, add your banana slices, 2 cups of the milk, sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Cook over medium heat until it starts to steam, then strain the mixture in a colander.

Though the recipe instructs you to discard, we kept the vanilla-infused bananas for additional topping later!

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, egg yolk, cornstarch and remaining 1/2 cup of milk. Add the mixture in with the rest of the pudding into the sauce pan, stirring to incorporate. Cook until the mixture thickens, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens and starts to boil, about 5 minutes.

Remember that "caramel" mix?

Add it to the pudding combo in the sauce pan. Reduce the heat to low and cook for about another five minutes.

Take your pudding and either pour into one dish or individual cups/ramekins. We were feeling sassy so we used martini glasses. Place plastic wrap over the top of the pudding to prevent a layer of "skin" from forming over the pudding. The directions said to refridgerate anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours. We started making this as we made our dinner so that as we ate, the pudding would being to congeal. The total time we let it cool was about 1.15 hours.

After eating our meal on the roof, we came back downstairs to finish off the food coma. The last step, and optional depending on your tastes, is making the vanilla wafer topping. Start this quick process by pre-heating the oven to 325 degrees.

Taking about thirty vanilla wafers (approximately equivalent to one box), place in a plastic bag and smash them up using the throw-down-on-the-ground-and-stomp method, or the less violent and perhaps preferred unless in need of aggressive release, the rolling-of-the-glass-or-measuring-cup over top. I suppose if you are really practical, a baker's pin would be nice to get the job done. I love that you put up with my nonsensical ramblings.

Melt the butter and add to the crushed wafers in a large bowl, followed by the sugar, cardamom and salt.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and top with the crumble topping. Toast in the oven until golden brown and fragrant, about 15 minutes.

Let cool. At this time, we mixed our reserved bananas from earlier with the crumbles and topped our pudding for a tasty treat! Grab a spoon and enjoy!