Southern Vegan Banana Pudding

I am from the south, and in the south we eat banana pudding...not with cool whip, not with cream cheese, but with nilla wafers, bananas, vanilla pudding, and meringue. Anything else, and my Grandmama might have slapped you. Pre vegan, I made banana pudding all the time. Every holiday, every party. So naturally it was one of the first recipes I attempted to veganize. I won't lie, it took me MANY attempts, and a 12 year old baking wonder of a daughter to get it right. She perfected the vegan wafer, while I worked on the pudding. Topped with the most delicious aquafaba meringue, and you have a banana pudding your own southern Grandmama might be willing to try.

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 - 6 ripe bananas, sliced

Vegan vanilla wafers

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup vegan butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup plant based milk (oat milk works really well when wanting baked goods to brown, but any plant based milk will work)

Pudding

• 3 1/2 cups almond milk, divided
• 1/4 cup corn starch
• 3/4 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 

Meringue

• Liquid from 1 can of chick peas
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. With an electric hand mixer, beat the butter, and both sugars, until soft and creamy.
3. Add in the milk and vanilla, and mix into the sugar and butter . The batter will look weird, and separated, but will come back together, don't worry.
4. Beat in the flour and salt a little at time until well mixed.
5. Pour batter into piping bag, or a zip lock bag with a hole cut in the corner, and pipe one inch circles onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake cookies for 20-25 minutes.

Pudding

1. In a medium sized pot, add 3 cups milk, vanilla extract, salt, and sugar.
2. Heat on medium heat, and whisk until the sugar is disoloved.
3. In a small bowl, whisk the remaining 1/2 cup of milk, and corn starch together until well combined, adding mixture to the pot.
4. Whisk well, and continue stirring, letting the mixture simmer until it begins to thicken. Once it thickens, let simmer a few more mintues, and then remove from the heat.
5. It may still seem a little thin, but will get thicker in the fridge.

Meringue

1. Microwave the sugar and chickpea liquid for 30 seconds, stir and repeat in 30 second intervals, until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Add the liquid, and cream of tarter to a stand mixer. If you do not have a stand mixer just make sure the mixture is in a nice big bowl, and use an electric hand mixer.
3. Beat the mixture on high until it thickens, and stiff peaks form. You want it to look like a fluffy, glossy, perfect cloud of meringue! This can take up to 10 minutes, so don't give up if nothing happens for a while. It will get there.

Layering the pudding

1. In medium sized glass serving bowl, one that can go into an oven, start by adding some pudding to the bottom, then a single layer of wafers, and finally a layer of bananas.
2. Repeat layering until all ingredients are gone, then top with a thick layer of meringue.
3. Turn oven to broil, and place pudding inside, keeping the oven door OPEN. You will have to watch the pudding the whole time because it only takes a second for it to burn to a crisp. Trust me, I've lived it.
4. It will only take a few seconds for the peaks to begin to brown. Once they do, remove from the oven and let cool before serving. 
5. Serve warm, or refrigerate for a bit if you prefer it cold.