Banana "Cream" Pudding - Gluten Free, Grain Free, Sugar Free

Yes it's me! I did survive the Holidays!
I had originally planned to add some great holiday recipes to the list, but then I got distracted, got behind with orders, got behind in making gifts, got behind in making baking, and just really got behind.. sigh.
So I decided to save myself the stress and not worry about it. It also greatly helped me to chuck the delicious food in the freezer to save me from myself and indulging. 
SOOOO.. here I was today, wanting something new, fresh, chilled and easy. I ran through a bunch of my favorite books and got some ideas and then I landed upon a page dear to my heart. Banana Cream Pie, oh how I love thee:) 

Well, I didn't feel like making a crust, or going fancy with the gelatin and so I thought how delicious would it be to have the scrumptious banana cream all on it's own? 
I discovered that it's called Banana Pudding on Google lol. But I didn't want to use starch or flour.
The traditional Banana Cream Pie (before the days of processed Cool Whip and JELLO Instant Pudding Powder), Was a classic custard made with flour egg yolks and sugar. You of course can find a ton of Gluten Free Banana Cream filling recipes. You can also find Primal ones with almond butter that bake into a gooey center. 
I just picked a couple different recipes out of my books (as I usually do) and I figured that I would either end up with a pudding or a cold soup. Either way, I would eat it and learn. 

This delicious pudding is made from bananas with only a splash of agave to help thicken and Coconut Butter as the primary thickening agent. I did use egg yolks, but unless you use a lot more of them and stir in the classic half a cup of flour, it's hard to get a thick pudding.
I used three bananas for the filling that were prviously frozen, that I just thawed and mashed. You will get a great result using fresh bananas as long as they are black and ripe. If not I would suggest using a sweetener to taste. I loved the rustic texture of my hand stirred pudding, if you want it to be whipped and smooth, throw it in a food processor before refrigerating. You can use this pudding as a banana cream pie filling. Pre bake your crust or use a no bake (such as in my cheesecake recipe) and chill the pudding. Once chilled, place in the pie shell and freeze. Just top with Coconut Whip cream and slice.

I found this pudding to be stupid good, like soo good on my way down the stairs to go order more bananas I had to refill my bowl. It's like a banana cream pie without the pie or a banana bread without the bread, or a banana pancake without the pancake. Pile on those walnuts and chow down on this delicious chilly goodness. 
You could make it fancy and throw in some chocolate chips!
MMMMMmmmmmm.

Banana Cream Pudding - Gluten Free, Grain free, Sugar Free

This is for my mom who tried to make banana cream pie with an avocado :)

Topping:
Place in a small glass bowl:

1 sliced banana 
2 t lime juice

Place in refrigerator.

Pudding:
 In a saucepan over medium heat: 

1.5 C Organic milk, cashew milk or coconut milk
2 organic egg yolks
2 t real vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt

Stir constantly until bubbly and starting to thicken. 

Pour in 3 T warm and soft coconut butter**

Whisk continuously until pudding is thick and no coconut butter remains. Pour into a glass bowl on the side. 

In the same sauce pan over medium heat:

3 mashed bananas
3 dashes of cinnamon
2 T butter or coconut oil
splash of real vanilla extract

Stir and cook for 3-4 minutes until banana is browned and heated through. Add the bananas to the custard and mix well together. For a smooth texture puree in a processor. For a chunky texture mix by hand.
Cover with plastic wrap. Place the plastic wrap all the way down into the bowl so it covers and sits on top of the top of the pudding. This will prevent a skin from forming. 
Chill in  the refrigerator for an hour or more until gelatinous.

Scoop into a bowl and place three chilled sliced bananas with lime juice on top, and sprinkle with chopped raw walnuts. 
Though the coconut butter was used I didn't taste in in the recipe so don't be afraid.

Delicious!!!!

** The coconut butter is used to thicken the pudding. If you don't have coconut butter, you could use cashew or almond butter. Using a nut butter though may change the taste and make it nutty. Otherwise you can sub in coconut flour or corn starch by the teaspoon until it's thick to your satisfaction. **

Using coconut butter to thicken is a great way without using starch or flour. It can be deceiving though as it will not start to show exactly how thick it is until the pudding cools. You will see an immediate thicken but it will become a pudding texture until after chilling versus a soup texture while it's hot.
If you use too much coconut butter you may end up with an ice cream texture you could eat frozen. yum!