The Story of Fundraising Pudding
I work as a fundraiser, which means asking people for money to support my organization. Many people wonder how can anyone do such an uncomfortable thing: ask strangers for money. But there are several answers. First, I help the organization whose values I believe in, and usually other people do too. I’m just helping to align their passions with the work we do; think of me as a financial matchmaker. Second, I have opportunities to meet incredible people. Because honestly, generous philanthropists are seldom boring folk! Most of the time they have an amazing story of success, family history, and real change in this world. I’m just incredibly lucky to hear it and sometimes be part of it.
A few years ago, I went to lunch with an incredible couple. We talked about what my organization does, and what causes we support. And of course, we talked about everything in-between: children, travels, pets, Shabbat dinners. They shared that they love getting together as a big family with cousins, grandparents, babies, pets & all for Shabbat dinner, and she always brings her famous desserts. The idea of a large family dinner with laughter, inside jokes, and yummy food has been my dream for years. Partly because I remember big family celebrations of my childhood, partially, because I’ve heard stories of even bigger get-togethers of even bigger families back in Odessa when my Mom was little. Also, because it’s just the four of us in the USA. While we have our chosen families here that open their homes and invite us to their tables all the time, being an immigrant can be lonely.
Back to desserts. Our lady has two signature dishes, and as her husband attested, they are constantly requested and coveted. They are a Swiss roll ice cream cake and a banana pudding. During our lunch together, I fidgeted and considered when it would be appropriate to ask for a recipe. I decided to send an email instead. And I got ‘em! But, as I said before, we are not a large family. And not a large sweet tooth family at that. And I don’t particularly appreciate wasting food. So over the years when we’d meet at a function, they’d ask me: how are the desserts coming along? And I’d say: not yet. But now we are on the other side of Covid, and we are visiting friends again. So I woke up with a burning desire to make one of those desserts. I opted for a famous Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding.
The TV show “Sex & the City” made this New York Bakery famous, and there are lines of people dreaming of trying Carrie’s favorite cupcakes… and this pudding. It is served in a container very much “dumped cafeteria” style, but with a price to match New York rent and prime TV mentions. The home version is very easy, much cheaper, has a wow effect as my friend promised, and is quite delicious. So whether you need to impress people, raise funds, or indulge your friends and family, I gotcha.
The incredible family I had lunch with all these years ago remains in Florida, my former colleague and lunch date is in California, I’m in Texas. I’m going to share my “Fundraising Banana Pudding” with one of my adopted families, my classmates whom I met in Israel and later cemented our friendship in New York. These classmates that became close friends are Ukrainian, I am Russian, and if this isn’t a perfect kitchen meise or a tale of food uniting people, I don’t know what is.
Magnolia Banana Pudding
The Magic Ingredients
- One 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 1/2 cups (360 grams/12.7 ounces) ice-cold water
- One 3.4-ounce package instant vanilla pudding mix (preferably Jell-O brand)
- 3 cups (720 grams/25.5 ounces) heavy whipping cream
- One 11-ounce box Nilla wafer cookies
- 4 to 5 ripe bananas, sliced
- Lemon (optional)
The Method
- One thing to keep in mind about this dessert it needs time to set, so I recommend making it in the morning, to serve at night.
- I have to confess, I forgot to document the first step! But that’s what you do. You can do it with a whisk or hand-held mixer, I used a stand mixer. In a bowl whisk together sweetened condensed milk (I was told that using it instead of regular milk is what makes this pudding so tasty) and ice-cold water. I used half a cup of that water to rinse the condensed milk tin. Whisk for about a minute till combined.
- Funny enough they say the original Magnolia Bakery Cook Book calls for this instant Jell-O pudding mix, nothing fancy or from scratch, how crazy is that?
- Add the pudding mix and beat until there are no lumps and the mixture is smooth about 2 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl, cover, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.
- In a stand mixer with the whisk, whip the heavy cream on medium speed for about 1 minute, until the cream starts to thicken, then increase the speed to medium-high and whip until stiff peaks form. Be careful not to overwhip.
- Switch to low mixing speed, I also changed the whisk to a paddle attachment, and start incorporating chilled pudding, one spoon at a time. Mix well until blended with no streaks.
- Time to assemble! Use any deep bowl or individual cups, I didn’t have a trifle bowl, so I used a simple salad bowl I had on hand.
- Start with a layer of Nilla wafer cookies. They can overlap, I was afraid not to have enough, I had plenty left!
- Follow that by a layer of sliced bananas. Now, I read everywhere that they will start oxidizing & browning right away. To prevent that it was recommended to brush bananas with lemon juice, hence the optional lemons. I attempted doing this on the first layer and got quickly annoyed. I decided that if I slice them right before putting them in, and cover them with pudding right away, they’ll be fine, and they were!
- One-third of your pudding mixture goes on top of cookies & bananas.
- And repeat the cookie & banana layers. I decided to add a decorative detail of cookies poking out of the side of the bowl. Can do the same with bananas, I was afraid they will not look pretty.
- Follow up with another layer of pudding.
- And the last layer of cookies & bananas.
- Finish up by covering the whole thing with pudding.
- Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4–6 hours. They say after 8–12 it’s not as good, I didn’t test it, it was gone by the end of the night.
- Invite your sous-chef for an obligatory bowl licking session.
- Decorate with extra cookies, crumbs, mint leaves, or whatever you have on hand.
- Best enjoyed with friends & family over a lively conversation.
- It ain't pretty while served, too soft, but incredibly creamy, and tasty.
