Booze Up This Classic Southern Pudding With A Splash Of Whiskey

It never hurts to try and booze up your dessert to give it a little extra depth of flavor. You could take a page out of Alton Brown's book and add some bourbon to your bread pudding, for example. Or, if you're feeling more inclined to a particular Southern staple, you could consider modifying your light and delicious banana pudding to include a little bit of whiskey's warmth. According to Blair Lonergan aka The Seasoned Mom, it's an absolutely delicious archetypically Southern combo.

Chowhound recently spoke with Lonergan asking how viable it is to add some whiskey (specifically bourbon) to banana pudding. Lonergan, a Virginia native, gave an emphatic yes, saying "That is delicious! I love bourbon in classic Southern desserts." Considering how well a splash of bourbon works when you use it in bananas foster, it shouldn't come as a surprise that it gets the green light from Lonergan to be used in banana pudding. Since bourbon tends to have pretty strong vanilla and caramel-like notes, it's super friendly to desserts such as these, and is certainly a welcome addition to any banana pudding.

So you've got the go-ahead to use bourbon in banana pudding — great! But that won't get you far unless you know the best way to incorporate that bourbon into your dessert. And perhaps more importantly, you've got to know how much bourbon to use in the first place. Thankfully, Blair Lonergan gives you all the crucial details.

The best way to incorporate bourbon into banana pudding is to add it directly into the filling. "I would add the bourbon to the pudding/custard," she says, "but start with a small amount (1 tablespoon or so). A little goes a long way!" And if you're making the custard at home, it's best to add the bourbon at the very end once you've removed it from the stove. If you're looking for even more of a boozy kick, though, don't feel limited to the filling — you can also infuse bourbon into your whipped cream. "To do so, add just a splash of bourbon (1 teaspoon or so) to the heavy cream before whipping," Lonergan states. You can fold it into Cool Whip too if you're using that, "but be careful not to fold or stir the Cool Whip too much or it can deflate and lose its fluffy, airy texture," warns Lonergan. 

The key here is to not go overboard, as Lonergan adds that "you can quickly ruin the dessert by adding too much bourbon!" So start small, add to taste if necessary, and enjoy the complementary flavors that the bourbon brings. You can even make the bourbon-infused banana pudding ahead of time and store it for three days in the fridge — just cover it with cling film or aluminum foil first.