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Produced by Stephanie Han Kim, Photo by Christie Vuong, Food Styling by Sage Dakota, Prop Styling by Andrea McCrindle.
This ridiculously delicious dessert is the perfect marriage of from-scratch and store bought components. After chilling, the cookies become soft enough to scoop, but still have a bit of bite.
3 cups 3.25% milk, divided
3 large egg yolks
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
2 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cubed
1 350-g pkg shortcake cookies
2 1⁄2 cups 35% cream, divided
4 bananas, sliced into 1/2-in. rounds, plus 1 banana, halved lengthwise
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 44-g bars chocolate-covered sponge toffee, chopped
Pudding: Whisk 1⁄4 cup milk with yolks and cornstarch in a bowl until smooth. Mix remaining 2 3⁄4 cups milk with 1/3 cup sugar and vanilla seeds in a saucepan set over medium-high. Bring to a simmer, about 5 min. Slowly pour milk into yolk mixture, whisking until combined.
Pour mixture back into saucepan, then reduce heat to medium. Cook, whisking constantly, until thick and glossy, 1 min. Remove from heat and whisk in butter. Scrape into a large bowl, then cover surface with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until room temperature, 2 hrs.
Assembly: Break each cookie in half crosswise. Set aside. Whisk chilled pudding until smooth (it will be thick). Whisk 1 cup cream in a bowl until soft peaks form, 1 to 2 min. Fold cream into pudding with a spatula.
Spread 1⁄4 of pudding mixture over bottom of a 4-litre trifle dish. Arrange 1/3 of cookies overtop, then 1/3 of sliced bananas. Repeat, ending with pudding. Cover with wrap and refrigerate until cookies are tender, at least 8 hrs or up to 2 days.
Whisk remaining 1 1⁄2 cups cream with 2 tbsp sugar in a bowl until soft peaks form, about 2 min. Spread over pudding. Sprinkle with sponge toffee and garnish with halved banana. Serve immediately.
For a different look, arrange in a 9 x 13-in. pan using 1/3 of the pudding and 1⁄2 of the cookies and bananas per layer.