The weather has warmed up and BBQ season is here! We love to grill up chicken, kebobs and even pizza on our grill. After such a heavy meal, a nice light and refreshing dessert hits the spot! Today I am sharing a dessert that fits the bill! Banana and Vanilla Pudding Parfaits! Best of all you don’t need to turn on the oven to make this dessert.
The pudding is made from scratch and layered with bananas and vanilla wafers. Then it is all topped with Gay Lea Coconut Whipped Cream! Gay Lea Coconut Whipped Cream is made with REAL coconut cream. It is non-dairy, lactose and gluten-free.
This dessert is great to have on a hot day. If you are not a fan of coconut, you can easily substitute Gay Lea Whipped Cream. I would not suggest to make the custard the day before as it will thicken even more and make it harder to assemble the dessert. The vanilla bean adds wonderful flavour to the custard. I love seeing the flecks of black from the vanilla seeds in the custard. You can substitute vanilla extract but the vanilla bean will add much more flavour. I also made this parfait with strawberries instead of bananas and it was just as delicious!
I used 2 large glasses for my parfaits. These servings are quite big and normally I wouldn’t make such big servings for dessert.
Until the end of June, Gay Lea is running a fun contest on their Facebook page called Nordi-Cows. Nordi-Cows is an interactive game on Gay Lea’s Facebook page. To play, visit Gay Lea’s Facebook page and pick your favourite cow. You milk your cow twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. The more you milk your cow, the more chances you have to win great weekly prizes!
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Banana and Vanilla Pudding Parfaits with Coconut Whipped Cream
Adapted from Annie’s Eats
We loved this parfait with bananas but you can easily change the fruit. We also loved it with strawberries and pineapples would work well too.
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 1/2 cups milk
3 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided
1/2 vanilla bean or 2 tsp of vanilla extract
3-4 ripe bananas, sliced
vanilla wafers
In a medium saucepan, add the flour, sugar and salt and whisk together. Whisk in the egg yolks followed by the milk. If using vanilla bean, cut the vanilla bean in half, lengthwise. Scrape the seeds out with a knife and add to saucepan along with the vanilla bean. Heat on medium heat. Add 2 tbsp butter. Whisk frequently and cook the mixture until it bubbles and thickens significantly. Remove from heat. Strain through a sieve to remove any lumps. Whisk in remaining 1 tbsp of butter. If using vanilla extract, whisk in with the butter.
In your serving dish layer with vanilla wafers and banana slices. Top with some pudding. Continue to make layers until pudding is finished. The last layer will be pudding. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set, about 2-3 hours. When ready to serve, top with Gay Lea Coconut Whipped Cream.
I am drooling at that delicious parfait… yum…