A Boy, A Girl and Banana Pudding...

Once upon a time in computer class, there was this boy.  He had long hair and acid wash jeans and leather boots.  He was really smart and popular and he played the electric guitar like nobody's business.  And there was this girl in that class.  She had long hair, and thin thighs, and big brown eyes.  And she was smart and a good typist and two years younger than him.  And they smiled at each other a lot and looked at each other a lot and that was about it.  He graduated that year and went off to live a glamorous life installing sheet rock and folding shirts in a tee-shirt factory.  She worked on finishing high school and got an equally glamorous job at McDonald's.  One day, the boy wised up and decided folding shirts wasn't quite the lucrative, stimulating job he'd been hoping for and decided to go on off to college to get some a that book lernin' he'd heard so much about.  And the girl worked her way up to her Senior year manning the front register all the while.

One day the boy walked in.  And he saw her in her greasy, uniformed finery.  And he asked her out on a date.  So they went.  And after they graduated from college, they got married.  They got a cat.  And six years later they got a baby.  And two years later another one.  And the boy got short hair, and gave up the acid wash jeans, and he played the guitar like nobody's business.  The girl got short hair, and thicker thighs, and typed like nobody's business.  And the whole time, one of the boy's favorite desserts was banana pudding.

This year for Valentine's Day, the girl got all fancy and decided to make her boy:

Deconstructed Banana Pudding

The Vanilla Wafer recipe came from Ezra Poundcake.
The only difference was I used salted butter and omitted the salt in the recipe and they nearly all cooked in 12 minutes (excpet for the ones on a thicker cookie sheet).  I took them off the sheet immediately, without the 5 minute cooling time, since the little tips were pretty well browned.  Also, instead of shaping dough logs and letting them cool in the fridge, I just put the dough directly into a cookie press.  It worked beautifully.

Basic Vanilla Pudding
Serves: 5
2 C milk
1/2 C sugar
3 T corn starch
1/4 t salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 T butter
Dissolve dry ingredients in wet ones (except vanilla and butter). Cook,stirring continuously,  until mixture covers back of spoon.  Do not boil.  Remove from heat, add vanilla, and butter.  Pour into serving dishes and chill.
(This is absolutely delicious warm, btw)

Rum Glazed Bananas
(Slightly modified from this recipe at Astray Recipes)
1 Tbs Butter
1 teaspoon Orange juice
 2 tablespoons Maple syrup
1 tablespoon Dark rum* opt.
⅛ teaspoon Ground cinnamon
4 Firm ripe bananas

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Melt the butter. Combine with the OJ, maple syrup, rum, and cinnamon.
3. Peel the bananas and slice. Put them in a shallow baking dish. Pour the buttered-rum mixture over the bananas.
4. Bake bananas until they are soft, about 8 minutes.
5. Remove the bananas from the oven and preheat the broiler. Place the bananas under the broiler until they brown slightly and the sauce turns into a glaze, 2-4 minutes.

Whipped Cream
1/2 Pint Whipped Cream
2 Tbs sugar

Whip together with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes or until whipped cream forms.

Assembly:
If  you want to arrange it all fancy-like, put the pudding on the bottom, top with bananas, whipped cream and serve with a cookie or three.  You can also arrange this as you would a regular banana pudding once everything cools off.


And they lived happily ever after...