Snowpocalypse

Well Chickens, we are all hunkered down here in Chicago, Charming Suitor is working away in the dining room with the pup, and I am in the living room taking a moment to say hello to you before I get back to work. 

My nephew doesn't mind the weather one bit!

The upside of working at home as a writer is that I don't have to battle the insanity of the daily commute, I don't have to keep regular hours, and my office can be wherever my laptop is.  The downside is that there really is no excuse to take a snow day.

But there is an excuse to make this pudding...

My brother from another mother Officer K has a birthday tomorrow, so we are all gathering to celebrate.  He isn't much of a cake guy, so I usually make him some kind of pudding or mousse dessert.  This is a new one, a chocolate adaptation of the famous Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding.  Decadent, but delish. 

Chocolate Banana Pudding


1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 ½ c ice cold water
1 3.4 o package Jello Instant Chocolate Pudding mix
4 ½ c heavy cream
2 boxes Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers
4 c sliced bananas (4 small, or 3 medium)
1 ½ T sugar

Beat sweetened condensed milk and water until smooth. Add pudding mix and beat 2 more minutes, cover and refrigerate 3-4 hours or overnight. Whip 3 c of the heavy cream to stiff peaks. Whisk pudding mixture to loosen and then fold pudding mixture into cream.

In a large wide 4-5 quart bowl or a deep glass baking dish, layer 1/3 of the wafers followed by 1/3 of the bananas followed by 1/3 of the pudding mix. Continue to layer the remaining ingredients.

Whip the remaining cream with the sugar to soft peaks and top the pudding with the whipped cream, and chocolate shavings.

Yours in Snowy Good Taste,
The Polymath