Recipe: No Bake Boston Cream Pie Strata (Ice Box Cake - graham crackers, homemade custard and frosting)

NO BAKE BOSTON CREAM PIE STRATA (ICE BOX CAKE)

"Here is one of my all-time favorite desserts: It looks and tastes like a dessert casserole, but it spends no time whatsoever in the oven. It is an icebox cake composed of layers of graham crackers and fresh, homemade vanilla pudding, topped with fudge frosting. When it sits together in the fridge overnight, it melds into a luxurious cake-like texture. Since it needs to be refrigerated before serving, it's the perfect thing to make ahead of time for a dinner party."

36 graham cracker sheets (about 20 ounces)
FOR THE CUSTARD:
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 large eggs
3 egg yolks
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 quart half-and-half (1 carton)
2 teaspoons vanilla

FOR THE CHOCOLATE FROSTING:
1/2 stick unsalted butter (4 tablespoons)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup milk
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Line the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with graham crackers, using about a quarter of them and breaking some in half if necessary.

TO MAKE THE CUSTARD:
Place the cornstarch in a small bowl. In a second small bowl, whisk together the eggs and egg yolks.

Melt the butter over medium heat in a deep, heavy saucepan. Stir in the sugar. Add the salt and half-and-half; stir. Warm over medium heat until bubbles form around the edges. Do not allow to boil. When the mixture is hot, turn off the heat.

Pour a ladleful of the hot half-and-half mixture into the cornstarch mixture. Whisk vigorously to combine. The mixture should come together smoothly, with no lumps; if there are any lumps, add a little more liquid and whisk them out. Pour mixture into the beaten eggs. Whisk vigorously to combine.

Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan; turn the heat on to medium. Whisk continuously and vigorously, working all the angles of the pot and scraping the bottom until the custard becomes very thick and starts to boil, with large bubbles that slowly rise to the surface, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat; stir in the vanilla.

Spread one-third of the pudding evenly over the graham crackers. Top with a layer of graham crackers; spread half of the remaining pudding over that layer. Add a third layer of graham crackers; top with the remaining pudding. Cover the top of the pudding with a final layer of graham crackers. Set aside.

TO MAKE THE FROSTING:
Melt the butter with the cocoa powder in a small saucepan. Heat to a light simmer over medium-low heat; let bubble, 1 minute. Whisk in the milk; cook, letting the mixture bubble up around the edges, 3 minutes.

Remove from the heat; beat in the confectioners' sugar with a whisk or hand beater. When the mixture is smooth, beat in the vanilla.

While the frosting is still quite hot and liquid, pour it over the top layer of graham crackers; smooth with a spatula dipped in hot water.

Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours and up to 2 days before slicing and serving.

*You will need about 36 full cracker sheets, which comes to 1 box (14.4 ounces) of Honey Maid graham crackers, plus one sleeve of a second box, or the equivalent of another brand.

RECIPE NOTES:
- I don't usually recommend specific brands of ingredients for recipes, but here I've had the best results with Honey Maid graham crackers. Less expensive brands tend to be lighter and not as substantial, and I find that they get too soggy. Having said that, Honey Maid (from Nabisco/Kraft) does have partially hydrogenated oil in some of their products, as well as high fructose corn syrup. This may have changed recently in their graham crackers, but check the ingredients carefully, if you want to avoid such things. If you don't use Honey Maid, do look for the heaviest, heartiest graham crackers you can find.
- Yes, you can use pudding mix from a box and chocolate frosting from a can, and if you do it makes this dessert extremely fast and easy. However, I do not like the weird aftertaste of pudding mix, and, honestly, it's very easy to whip up your own vanilla pudding from scratch. Even if you make your own pudding from scratch, this recipe doesn't take more than an hour to put together, and then it is all done.

Makes 12 servings
Source: Not Your Mother's Casseroles by Faith Durand