Banana Custard-filled Chocolate Cupcakes w/ PB Frosting. Yum.

"You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out, you put your left foot in and you shake it all about!" This cupcake made me want to do the Hokey Pokey! No, seriously! I don't even like the Hokey Pokey. Come to think of it, I don't like banana and peanut butter together either, much less with chocolate (because they would just be tainting my chocolate anyway!) But this, oh THIS was an exception!!!!!!!

I read a certain column in the food section of the newspaper every week because I like to criticize it. (I'll be honest.) But this week it was actually a bit inspiring. Inspiring as in "I can do better" =)  It was a recipe for homemade pudding, both a vanilla and a chocolate version. I decided to make the vanilla into banana, and more like a custard. And, the only logical conclusion was to make that a filling for a delicioso chocolate cupcake!


Homemade Banana Custardy Pudding, adapted from Anna Thomas Bates's Vanilla Pudding

WHAT YOU NEED:
2 Cups Half & Half
2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract (Penzey's in BEST!!)
1 Cup Sugar
2 TBSP. Cornstarch (I used Arrowroot Starch and it was runny...)
1/4 tsp. Sea Salt
1 Egg + 1 Yolk (I think next time I'm going to try yet one more Yolk! Yum!)
1 Overly-Ripe Almost-Rotten Banana

HOW TO:
Heat half & half over low heat. Stir a few times - do not let it boil over! In fact, don't let it come to a boil at all. Add vanilla and salt.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar and cornstarch, then eggs, until smooth.
Ladle about a 1/4 cup of the warm milk mixture into the bowl with sugar mixture. Use a hand-mixer to whisk the mixture as it comes together. You do not want the egg to cook from the hot milk. Repeat 3x.
As it is now tempered, you may add the entire mixture back to the saucepan - slowly, and continuously stirring. (I used the hand-mixer the entire time, even on the heat!)
Increase heat to medium. Continue to stir/mix for a couple of minutes, until blended smooth and actually starts to look thicker like ...a ...pudding. (Trust me, this feels like forever, but it only takes a couple of minutes.)
Let pudding cool in a large metal or glass bowl (you will be storing it in), and chill. To cover, place a large piece of plastic wrap over the pudding, pushing it down on top of the pudding, so that it does not form a film (...cause ewww!) To make it even more air tight, wrap in yet another piece of plastic wrap over the bowl, like you'd normally wrap up a bowl =)

As always, ENJOY!!