The Best Hot Banana Pudding

My whole life I have loved banana pudding. Cold banana pudding. My mom on the other hand loves hot banana pudding. For many years we would go out to eat and that's what she would get. I could not get myself to try it because I just couldn't imagine it being any better than my wonderful cold banana pudding! Well, I was wrong! I made Paula Deen's recipe a couple of months ago and it is amazing! While it was really good, the pudding was too runny and so I made a couple of changes. Hope y'all enjoy!!!

For the pudding
3/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
2 1/2 cups milk
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ounces (1/2 stick) butter
3 medium bananas, sliced
1 (12-ounce box) vanilla wafers

For the meringue topping*
3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar

Mix together sugar and cornstarch and slowly add milk. The recipe said to heat it in a double boiler, but I just cooked it in a regular saucepan on low heat until it comes to a small boil and thickens. If you do this be very careful because it will burn very easy! Make sure that you are stirring it constantly and don't leave it on the stove! You can ask my dad what happens when the recipe says that and you don't follow it! lol

Slightly beat the egg yolks and temper it with a small amount of the hot custard and stir well. Add egg mixture to custard pot and cook 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla and butter. Let cool. Instead of a 9 by 9-inch baking dish I used a 13x9 dish, alternate pudding, bananas, and wafers, beginning with pudding and ending with pudding. Add topping, if desired.

For the meringue topping, if using:
Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar until stiff peaks form, then spread onto top of pudding mixture. Bake until golden brown.

*Depending on the size of the dish you are using you may need to double the amount of meringue. As I said before, I didn't use a 9x9 inch dish and I doubled the recipe as a whole. I actually messed up and more like quadrupled the meringue! I was worried about what I was gonna do with all of the extra, but it all worked out great! That's why I said that you may need to alter the amount of the meringue.

My Name Is Shannon And I'm Addicted to Pinterest!

Who else loves Pinterest? I know I do! I am so addicted to this website it's not funny! I went on a cruise with my family a couple of weeks ago (more on that later), and it was hard not being to see how many repins I had!


If you have not heard of Pinterst you are missing out! It's a virtual pinboard that you can connect webpages to. Over the years I have found many recipes, techniques, and projects that it's been kinda hard for me to keep my computer organized. With Pinterest I can create as many boards as I want and sort of bookmark anything to the board. Does that make sense?


Something else that I really like about it is if something happens to my computer I won't loose all of my pins. Before, if my computer crashed *knock on wood* I would have lost all of my bookmarks, pictures I had saved, and files in general. With Pinterest, it all stays on the website!



There's so many things that I love about this website that I could keep going on and on about it! If you're new on there feel free to follow me, and I'll follow you back! There's so much to be found on there! I've already mentioned about recipes and such, but there are craft ideas, quotes, work out tips, home decor inspiration, etc. In order to join you have to be invited, but if you need one just let me know! Happy pinning!!!

I'm Still Here!

I'm sorry I haven't blogged in such a long time! I moved during the summer and haven't been able to bake! *sigh* I thought since I haven't made a post in over six months that no one would miss me. But I was wrong! While I was on vacation last week I got a couple of comments asking where I've been.

So, keep an eye out cause I'll be back very soon!!!

Ever Wonder The Difference Between French & Regular Vanilla?

About a month ago I found a website on how to make homemade vanilla extract. I've learned so much from that website and it has also inspired me in many ways. I knew there were different kinds of vanilla, but I've never really wondered about french vanilla being any diffderent. A few nights ago I looked online and found out.

There's not any difference! For the most part anyway. The only difference I've found is in ice cream and perfume. In vanilla ice cream it starts as a cream and french vanilla begins as a custard. The perfume is similar, being that vanilla is mixed with floral or fruity notes while french vanilla is without the other notes.

One Way to Deal With Cupcakes Bleeding Through the Liners

I love looking at cupcake liners. In my head I'm trying to think of different way to decorate the cupcakes with coordinating colors, different sprinkles, new designs and techniques to use,etc. I don't know why I do this when 90% of the time the cupcakes show through the liners!!!

One day last week I saw something new at the grocery store: Reynold's Baked for You Staybright Baking Cups. The outside looked like a regular cupcake liner, but when you looked inside you can see that they were lined with aluminum foil! They were about $2.00 for a pack of 24, so I gave it a shot. I didn't make cupcakes with them, I made muffins, but the liners didn't bleed at all! They looked great!!! The only problem I had with them is that they were a little harder to peel off the cupcake.

There's just one problem though. I didn't find them at one of the grocery stores around here, I found it in Birmingham, and now I can't find them anywhere around here. I looked them up online and found out they you can buy them online, too! If you try them out let me know what you think! http://mybrands.com/BakedForYou.aspx

Sugar Cookie Tutorial

While searching online I found an easier way to roll out cookies! I've changed it a little bit, so it's even better now!



To roll and cut out the cookies this is what you'll need: your cookie dough, cookie sheet, silpats or parchment paper, rolling pin, and cookie cutters. No extra flour!





Take your silpats or wax/parchment paper and place it on top of your cookie sheet. A silpat is a reusable cookie sheet liner that doesn't really stick to anything.

Next, take another silpat and put it on top of your cookie dough. Make sure if you're using a silpat to put the nonstick side down.

Take your rolling pin and roll out the dough. When you take the top silpat off this is what it should look like. Make sure that the dough is the same thickness, I roll mine out to about 1/4".

Get your cutters and use them on the dough. Try to get them close together so you cut out more cookies. Save the extra dough and add it to the unused dough.

Pop the cookie sheet in the fridge for 15-30 mins to let the dough get stiff.

The dough should be stiff enough by now that you can peel it away without messing up the shape of the cookie. There is always where I'd want to pull my hair out! lol

Go ahead and bake your cookies. Just remember that they will still cook for a min or so after you take them out of the oven.

Sometimes you'll get the dreaded cookie spread like I did. This is where you have a little too much butter and not enough flour. To remedy this take your cutter again and use it on the cookie.

Don't wait to do this til when the cookies have cooled, they won't be as flexible. I did it right after the cookies came out. If I had waited any longer I would have had problems with the cookies breaking when I was removing the excess.

And now all that's left to do is decorate!

My New Obsession

I have been looking for some cute recipe cards to go in my Vera Bradley recipe box that I have. I looked all over the internet, but didn't really find what I was looking for. The one place I didn't think to look was at Etsy.com. Not only did I find some recipe cards that I loved, but a ton of other stuff, too!!!

I fell in love with fabric at Walmart a few months ago. I bought some, but I didn't know what all I wanted to do with it (and still don't). While looking on Etsy I found quite a few aprons that are awesome!

It's even reversible! And just as cute!!!

But there's only one problem. I'm kinda broke...maybe I get buy it in the next week or so before it gets gone. And I wish I had her figure, too!

Book Review: The Well-Decorated Cake by Toba Garrett

I asked for this book as one of my Christmas presents and I am so glad that I did! I think it's amazing!!!

Toba goes over the basics such as filling, crumb coating, icing a cake, covering with fondant, and stacking cakes. A lot of times cake books are hard for me to understand what the author is trying to get me to do. The way Toba describes things I understand what she's saying. In addition to that, she has pictures for just about every step throughout the book.

She also goes over basic and special tools, piping techniques, gumpaste flowers, and recipes. But, "going over" these topics is an understatement. She talks about the subject as a whole and then talks about the components more specifically before she even starts on the tutorial.

Whether you are just starting your cookbook collection or have an entire library, this book is a must have!!!

The book has ten chapters: Cake Decorating Tools; The Icing That Make the Cake; Preparing & Icing the Cake, Easy Design Techniques; Buttercream Basics; Royal Icing Design Skills; Gumpaste Sugar Flowers; Ornaments, Inscriptions, Drapery, & Toppers; A Gallery of Cakes; and Toba's Favorite Recipes. It has 176 pages.

http://www.amazon.com/Well-Decorated-Cake-Toba-Garrett/dp/0806991992