Christine’s Banana Yogurt Pudding

 MNU’s Food Editor Christine gives us another delicious dish that is perfect for a hot summer day. Fancy some Banana Yogurt Pudding? 

Sometimes you just want a treat, right? I know I can’t be the only one who craves sweet creamy summer desserts. The problem is getting a rich and delicious treat that isn’t a ton of work to make and that doesn’t leave you feeling heavy and sluggish afterward.

I grew up in the South and banana pudding is one of those flavors that I crave- and every once in a long while, I’ll go through the whole process of making a big decadent bowl full of from-scratch banana custard, so sweet and delicious that you have to go take a nap after eating it! But it’s the kind of special occasion that you make for a crowd, it takes a good bit of time and effort, and it’s not exactly great for keeping your girlish figure!

 I ran across a three ingredient recipe for banana pudding on The Kitchn that got me excited to make a little banana pudding inspired treat that won’t take too much work and won’t weigh you down. It is easy to make for just one person too! The problem I had with the original recipe was that it didn’t have the deep banana flavor that I love, and it didn’t include a creamy topping. And after a few tries, I think I stumbled on a great trick to take this simple banana “pudding” to the next level.

 As strange as it sounds, the secret to this recipe is baby food! When my sisters started having children, I began to pay a little more attention to what the kids around me were eating and there are a lot of great options out there, purees of fruit that are in pouches to make it easier to have something healthy when you aren’t at home. My nieces and nephews are great eaters and will try just about anything, and a lot of what they eat is simple versions of what their parents are eating. So when I started trying to think of ways to add a punch of banana flavor to this recipe, I thought, why not bring the baby’s food to the adult’s meal for once! I got the flavor of a nice ripe banana with the smooth texture I wanted without having to get the blender out.

BANANA YOGURT PUDDING 

Makes a generous single serving

About 6 vanilla wafer cookies (I like the Trader Joe’s UltimateVanilla Wafers)

½ ripe banana sliced

½ cup whole milk vanilla yogurt (I preferred Stonyfield Organic French Vanilla)

¼ cup banana puree baby food

Whipped cream (if you want to use canned whipped cream to keep it simple, I won’t tell anyone)

DIRECTIONS: 

Line the bottom of your favorite bowl or dish with a layer of vanilla wafers; top the cookies with a layer of sliced bananas.

Blend the yogurt and banana puree and pour over the cookies and banana. Top the yogurt with another layer of bananas. Top with softly whipped cream. Allow it to chill for 15 minutes to an hour for the cookies to soften and the flavors to meld before eating. 

A quick note on the yogurt: I really encourage you to go for it and use a creamy whole milk yogurt. It will be worth the extra few calories because the texture will be so creamy and satisfying! I like the Stonyfield Organic French Vanilla because it is really smooth and the vanilla tones down the tanginess of the yogurt. Use whatever brand you prefer, but definitely go for whole milk!

Check out Christine’s delectable blog or follow her on Twitter.