Banana pudding with a tropical twist.
Passion fruit is my favorite fruit. It is prevalent in Caribbean culture and the perfect fruit to use for desserts. While I wish passion fruit was easily accessible. Unfortunately, it's not for many people living in the U.S.
In this recipe, I use passion fruit concentrate as the main source of passion fruit flavoring. You can typically find this in the frozen aisle near-frozen fruits. If you have access to fresh passion fruit, feel free to make your own passion fruit concentrate to use in this recipe.
Banana pudding is one of my favorite desserts that I grew up on that we always had at large family gatherings and we always use boxed Jell-O as a base. I hope this recipe can serve as a new way to spice up the classic dessert. Typically this dessert is made with nilla wafers, but I made homemade shortbread cookies as a replacement.
I almost forgot the most interesting part of this dessert... ITS VEGAN!
Passion Fruit Banana Pudding:
Serves 8
2 boxes of Jell-O (Vanilla)
1 1/2 Cup of Coconut Milk (Cold)
1 (15 oz) Can of Coconut Cream (Cold)
1 Cup of Passion Fruit Concentrate (Cold)
Pinch of Salt
2 Bananas (Thinly-Sliced)
Fresh Passion Fruit (Optional)
Shortbread Cookies:
2 Cups of All-Purpose Flour
3/4 Cup of Powdered Sugar
1 1/2 Cups Vegan Butter (Softened)
1/2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Take one box of Jell-O and add to a bowl. Add cold coconut milk and beat on medium-high with and hand-mixer for 2 minutes. Allow to rest for 5 minutes.
In another bowl, add the cold coconut cream and beat on medium-high with and hand-mixer for about 8 minutes or until you see loose peaks. Add the passion fruit concentrate and gently fold. Next, get the vanilla Jell-O and gently fold into the coconut cream and passion fruit mixture.
Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the shortbread cookies. In a bowl, add flour, powdered sugar, vegan butter, and vanilla extra. Combine with your hands until the dough forms together.
Heavily flour a surface and roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Use a small cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Place cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges turn lightly golden.
Remove passion fruit pudding mixture from the refrigerator. Add a pinch of salt to the bowl and another box of Jell-O. Beat the mixture on medium-high with and hand-mixer for 2 minutes. Allow to rest in the refrigerator for 5 minutes.
Now it's time to assemble the banana pudding. I used 4oz jelly mason jars, but you can also you a baking dish as well. Assemble by first adding a layer of shortbread cookies, followed by the banana passion fruit pudding and thinly sliced bananas. Repeat. Lastly, if you were able to find fresh passion fruit, add it to the top of the pudding.
Once finished assembling the banana pudding, cover, and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.
Enjoy!