Banana Split Pudding Shot

All the flavors of a classic banana split sundae in pudding shot form, complete with banana liqueur and ice cream parlor toppings.

The Banana Split ice cream sundae was invented in 1904 by David Evans Strickler, a 23-year-old apprentice pharmacist working at the Tassel Pharmacy soda fountain in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Strickler created the dessert by slicing a banana lengthwise and placing it in an elongated dish — now called a boat — then adding three scoops of ice cream and topping them with strawberry sauce, pineapple sauce, and chocolate sauce respectively, finishing with whipped cream, chopped nuts, and maraschino cherries. He charged ten cents, double the five-cent price of a standard sundae, which his fellow college students from the nearby St. Vincent College willingly paid. The format spread nationally within years and became one of the defining American soda fountain desserts of the 20th century. The Banana Split Pudding Shot translates the sundae's flavor architecture into a party-format gelatin shooter: banana liqueur provides the banana's sweetness, Chambord black raspberry liqueur stands in for the strawberry sauce, and instant vanilla pudding mix contributes the cream and sweetness that the ice cream provides in the original. The pudding shot format emerged in American home entertaining through the 2000s and 2010s as food and drink bloggers developed party-friendly recipes that could be prepared in large batches hours before service and chilled in small plastic cups, requiring no bartending technique to distribute to guests.