Banana Cream Pudding

This recipe is adapted from a vanilla pudding recipe found in Mark Bittman's tome How to Cook Everything. The pudding then is made bourgie by the addition of bananas and shaved coconut.

Serves 4-5

1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons corn starch
pinch salt
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped clean of the seeds
1-2 ripe bananas
whipped cream
shaved coconut

In a saucepan, combine sugar, corn starch, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, milk, and vanilla bean seeds (reserve the pod for another use), and add the milk mixture to the sugar mixture.

Over medium heat, with a wire whisk, whisk mixture well to eliminate any clumps. Stir constantly, while bringing the mixture to a boil, and thickening the pudding. This should take about 10 minutes. Stir in the butter.

Thinly slice the banana. Pour half of the pudding into individual cups. Place banana slices on top of the pudding, covering the surface. Pour the rest of the pudding on top, slowly as to not disturb the banana slices. Cover each cup with plastic wrap, putting the wrap directly on the pudding to avoid getting a skin. Refrigerate for a few hours.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place untoasted, raw coconut on a baking sheet. Toast the coconut for approximately 7 minutes, until a golden brown color is achieved.

When ready to serve, whip cream stiffly, place a dollop of cream on unwrapped pudding, and sprinkle with shaved coconut. Enjoy!