Homemade Salted Caramel Banana Pudding

Happy Easter Spilling the Sweet Tea fam! I pray you all have an amazing day with your family and friends. I wanted to share the the dessert that will be on my Easter table today! I made this salted caramel banana pudding last night and I loved the way it turned out. I made my own whipped cream and salted caramel. I love making my own whipped cream because its so easy to make and you can add any flavor you want to it. This time I added some salted caramel liqueur to give it a salted caramel taste and to compliment the actual salted caramel that I drizzled on every layer of my salted caramel banana pudding trifle. I am having guests today for Easter dinner so I wanted to present my dessert in a fabulous way so I used my trifle bowl. You can make this banana pudding in a 9x13 Pryex dish. This is a bit of a long process because I made the salted caramel and the whipped cream but I promise you it is worth it. Happy Easter and thank you all for following me for the tea on amazing Southern recipes.
 

For the salted caramel

1 cup of sugar

6 Tablespoons salted butter, room temperature cut up into 6 pieces

1/2 cup of heavy cream, at room temperature

1 teaspoon of salt

 Directions to Make the Salted Caramel

1. Heat granulated sugar in a medium heavy-duty saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly with a high heat resistant rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Sugar will form clumps and eventually melt into a thick brown, amber-colored liquid as you continue to stir. *You must constantly stir this*
 

2. Once sugar is completely melted, immediately stir in the butter until melted and combined. Because the sugar is really not, be careful adding the butter because the the caramel will bubble. If you notice the butter separating or if the sugar clumps up, remove from heat and vigorously whisk to combine it again.

3. After the butter has melted and combined with the caramelized sugar, cook for 1 minute without stirring. Very slowly stir in 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Also be very careful with this step because the the caramel will bubble again. After all the heavy cream has been added, stop stirring and allow to boil for one minute. You will notice that the caramel will start to rise a bit.

4. Remove from heat and stir in the salt. Allow to slightly cool down before using. Caramel thickens as it cools. I made this first and then the rest of the banana pudding to allow time for the caramel to thicken and cool.

5. Once completed cooled, transfer to a squeeze bottle in order to drizzle the caramel between the layers.

For the Salted Caramel Whipped Cream

2 cup heavy "whipping" cream very cold

2 tablespoon instant vanilla pudding mix if making ahead

3-4 tablespoons of Salted Caramel liqueur

2-3 tablespoons of caramel sauce

1/8 teaspoon salt

 Directions to Make the Salted Caramel Whipped Cream

1. Using a standing mixer, add cold heavy cream and two tablespoons of vanilla pudding mix (to keep it from separating so you can make it a day in advance)

2. Whip together the cream and pudding mix until cream just starts to thicken. Add the other ingredients and continue to whip until desired consistency. Store in refrigerator until it’s time to put together the banana pudding.
 

For the Banana Pudding

8 oz of cream cheese, softened

14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

5 oz package Instant vanilla pudding mix

3 cups of whole milk

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup of homemade salted caramel whipped cream

1 box Nilla wafers

1 box of Chessman cookies, crushed

5-7 bananas, peeled and sliced

 Directions to Make Banana Pudding

1. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and fluffy.

2. Add in sweetened condensed milk, pudding mix, milk and vanilla extract. Mix until combined well.

3. Stir in 1 cup of the homemade whipped cream.
 

4. In a trifle bowl, add vanilla wafers at the bottom. Then add a layer of bananas. Then pour the pudding mixture on top. you only need a enough to cover the bananas. Top the pudding mixture with crushed Chessman cookies.
 

5. Continue with two more layers and top with the remaining homemade whipped cream. Drizzle with salted caramel on top.

6. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours before serving. I made mine the night before.

Enjoy!