Old Fashioned Banana Pudding
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3/4 cup of superfine or castor sugar divided into 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup
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1/3 cup cornflour
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a dash of salt
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4 eggs, separated
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2 2/3 cups milk
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1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
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1/2 box of Nilla wafers (of a 12oz box so 6 ozs or170g) or similar plain cookie
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5 medium ripe bananas, sliced
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Mix the 1/2 cup of sugar with the flour, salt. Beat in egg yolks. Stir over low heat. Heat milk in a separate saucepan or in microwave until medium to hot and gradually pour the milk in whisking the entire time so that it thickens and becomes a custard. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla paste or extract.
Step 2 - Sort through your wafers and leave the best ones out for the garnish. Spread a little custard on the bottom of a pie dish (or you could do these as individual puddings). Cover with a single layer of Nilla wafers not overlapping and then sliced bananas. Repeat until you have two layers ending with a custard layer (you will do two layers of cookies and bananas but three of custard).
Step 3 - Beat egg whites on high with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Then add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Spoon this over the custard layer making sure to reach the edge so that there aren't any gaps at all.
Step 4 - Bake for 15- 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool and place plate in fridge overnight to chill and for the cookies to get soft. Add final wafers around the edge just before serving.