one of my favorite past times when i was still living in new york city is to stroll around the lower east side & soho area. the lil' boutiques, the vintage shops and particularly the different kinds of food & snacks were definitely worth the 45 minutes trip from where i used to live. one of the particular place i love to visit was
magnolia bakery. located in bleecker street area, me and my friends used to stroll around the vintage shops in that street and then reached the bakery to get a couple of cupcakes, coffee and my favorite banana pudding!!
the bakery is a little store with a feeling like you just walked in to a home kitchen. the smell of cakes and frosting pulled you in right away. and looking at the cupcakes.. oh they're so pretty. the bakery is well-known for its cupcakes. they have pretty frosting and the cakes just melt-in-your-mouth when you bite into them. it was even before cupcakes was as popular as it is now, the bakery is already well-known for it. i guess, maybe they even started the cupcakes trend, who knows? one thing i know, their lines are getting longer each time i went there, especially after the bakery was featured in one of the scenes of
sex and the city. the patrons were getting longer that the lines were almost a block away from the shop. later, it even get its publicity in
the devil wears prada, in which the character
andy says at one point that she needs to get to the bakery to pick something for her boyfriend's birthday.
it was definitely one of my favorite places and my favorite moments of new york city, and i have plenty!!
but one thing that i miss the most about the place, is not just the cupcakes, but its banana pudding!! you can't really see in the display and it doesn't come in a pretty package, just inside a regular foam cup with a plastic spoon. but once you put a spoon of the pudding to your mouth, you'll definitely fall in love! i remember my first time was just ordering a small cup and thought it'd be just like any other pudding. i wasn't sure why i ordered it, but i did. later, i dig into the cup and found myself reaching to bottom of it in no time, it was THAT good! and later i came for more and more pudding, instead of the cupcakes.
so the other day, when a friend (who's also a fellow ex-new yorker) were discussing about foods we missed in new york city via
twitter, i started missing the pudding again. then, she said that she found the recipe
here and shared it with me. right away, i started to think about making them. unfortunately the ingredients are not as easy to find here in singapore, particularly the nilla vanilla wafers and jell-o instant vanilla pudding. so after a week looking around, i finally found it in the nearby
cold storage and right away started to make it that night. and it was a perfect time because that was the first day of ramadhan. so i was making it as the sweet part of our break-fasting meal. and.. it was DELICIOUS!! so delicious, that i made more so i can bring them to my friend's house for break-fasting gathering.
my recipe is slightly different than what
grace had and due to the high request for the recipes from my friends in
twitter & facebook, i decided to share it here.
ingredients:
half a can of condensed milk
2 cups of cold water
jell-o instant vanilla pudding
600ml of heavy cream
nilla wafers
banana
cocoa powder
how to make:
mix a half can of condensed milk with 2 cups of cold water until it dissolves. then pour in the instant vanilla pudding into the milk until it thickens. cover, then chill inside the fridge for at least 4 hours (but i leave it aside overnight)
after the 4 hours is up, i mix the heavy cream until it thickens. then pour in the vanilla pudding into the cream, and fold it until the texture is smooth and mixed evenly. you can chill it again in the fridge for another 4 hours. but i'm too lazy to wait for another 4 hours, so i mix the pudding together after i mix the cream and the pudding
first, i layer the pudding in the bottom of the cup (i used the individual cup or ramekin for better packaging). then layer with banana evenly (the ripe the better), then the nilla wafers. i find that it's best to crumble the wafers first (not too smooth, just break it with ur hand) then put on top of the bananas. later, top it off with another layer of pudding. sprinkle the cocoa powder on top of it.
just leave it in the fridge for another 4 hours (at least) until the wafers softens and the pudding has thicken a bit more. voilaa.. you're done!
the recipes makes about 10-15 cups, depending on the serving size.
happy trying!!
Labels: 2009, nyc, recipe
