BanaNutella Pudding - The South and Italy unite!

It seems that many Southern classics are being tweaked and showing up on the menus of very swanky restaurants. So, if they're going to play around with history, then I'll play around with geography; Italy meets North Carolina with this one.

BanaNutella Pudding

Banana Pudding is one of those sweet, creamy, cookie filled southern-born treats that is so darn good, I've eaten it for breakfast by convincing myself it was one of my daily fruit servings. I don't remember a single Church Pot Luck that didn't have several versions of Banana Pudding. It might be the quick and easy: Box of Instant Pudding and a bag of Nabisco Wafers dumped together and given a swirl with Dream Whip. It might be the Cook-it-slow and full home-made pudding, with a dash of brandy and home-made sugar cookies with sliced up bananas. Honestly, both have their place...in my tummy.
I've combined my love for Nutella with my memories of Sunday night desserts for this recipe. It looks only half as good as it tastes, and it tastes...or it tasted (it was gone within 30 minutes) like a whipped chocolate coated banana hug. You know what I mean. Enjoy and Baci!

RECIPE: BanaNutella Pudding (showfood chef)

3 cups milk (plus 1/3 cup)
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, plus 1 egg yolk and 1 egg white
2/3 cup sugar
3 Tbls. butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup Nutella
1/2 box of Vanilla Wafers (or small sugar cookies)
3 Bananas (peeled and sliced in 1/4" rounds)

1) Add the milk and cornstarch in a saucepan on low/med heat. Stir while heating just to simmer. Remove from heat.
2) In a bowl, beat the eggs and the egg yolk with the sugar until light and frothy.
3) Temper the eggs into the warm milk, return the saucepan to the heat and continue stirring while cooking on low/med. until thickened.
4) Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla. Hold to the side.
5) In a bowl, whip the Nutella and the 1/3 cup milk until creamy, then stir this into the pudding. Let cool to room temp.
6) In another bowl, whip the egg white with 1 Tbls. sugar til firm peaks hold.


In a loaf pan or an 8x8 pan, place a bottom layer of Vanilla wafers, followed by a layer of sliced bananas, followed by a layer of the pudding. Repeat to the top, finishing with pudding.

Spread the egg white meringue over the top evenly, heat in a preheated 350F oven for about 15 minutes or until the tops of the meringue peaks are toasted.
Can be served warm, chilled or room temp.