Salted Caramel Banana Pudding

PUDDING DIRECTIONS:

1. In a small mixing bowl, beat together egg yolks with 1 whole egg.
2. Mix together the milk and heavy cream in a liquid measuring cup.
3. In a heavy pot, combine sugar, water, and salt. Cook over medium-high heat stirring once to combine. Gently swirl the pot as the sugar cooks but do not stir. Cook about 10 minutes until the sugar begins to turn a light gold brown.
4. Carefully pour milk and cream mixture into the melted sugar, whisking continuously with a wire whisk. The caramel will bubble up quite a bit but will settle down.
5. Temper the eggs. Remove a small amount of the hot caramel mixture and slowly pour it into the beaten eggs mixing continuously. TIP: tempering egg is a process that heats eggs slowly so that they do not cook too quickly and become lumpy when added to a hot liquid.
6. Mix cornstarch into the tempered egg mixture.
7. Pour tempered eggs back into the pot of caramel again whisking continuously.
8. Cook over medium heat until the caramel begins to thicken. This should only take about 2-3 minutes.
9. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.
10. Strain pudding mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a metal mixing bowl or heat proof bowl. Push the liquid through with a rubber spatula and discard any lumps that might remain. This will leave you with the creamiest pudding.
11. Cover pudding with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. The plastic should be touching the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from developing.