Dads Birthday: Dessert Banana Meringue Pudding

So here is the last thing I made for my dads birthday. It was a home run. Here is the recipe:

Banana Meringue Pudding
Serves 8

Pudding:

4 large eggs
2/3 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of cornstarch
4 cups of whole milk
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
Pinch of kosher salt

Assembly:

1  11ounce box of vanilla wafer cookies
3 ripe bananas, thinly sliced
4 large egg whites
1/2 cup of sugar

Directions:
Pudding:

Lightly whisk the eggs in a large bowl just to blend. Whisk the sugar and the cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Gradually whisk the milk into the sugar mixture and heat over medium heat, whisking often until it is very warm to the touch. Gradually, whisk half or the hot milk mixture into the eggs, then whisk the egg mixture back into the milk mixture in the saucepan.
Cook, whisking constantly, until thickened and the whisk leaves a trail of pudding, it should be about the consistency of mayonnaise, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat, add the butter, vanilla, and salt, and whisk until the butter is melted, and the mixture is smooth.
Strain the pudding through a fine mesh strainer, and into another bowl. Cover the pudding with plastic wrap, and chill until cool, about 2 hours.

Assembly:

Spread 1/3 of the pudding evenly into a 2 quart baking dish. Top with half of the cookies, and half of the bananas. Repeat layers one more time, and top with the remaining 1/3 of the pudding. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours.
Just before serving, heat the broiler. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the egg whites until foamy. With the motor running, gradually add the sugar. Increase the speed to medium high heat and beat until stiff peaks form.
Spoon the meringue over the pudding, and swirl decoratively. Broil the meringue until it turns brown in some places, about a little less than 1 minute. You can crush some wafer cookies on top of the meringue.

*The pudding can be assembled 2 days ahead, without the meringue