So I was out with the family doing some grocery shopping, and I happened upon this little bundle of awesome.
Now, these were some bananas on sale at Target, and I think these are the best I have ever seen there, plus they were cheap. Great combination so far, eh? So, the first thing that pops into my mind is Banana Cream Pie! An absolutely wonderful dish that is a perfect way to end any Hawaiian day.
What makes things even better is that the very next day, my family and I get invited over to a friend’s house for a wonderful dinner, and low and behold, I have a perfect reason to make Banana Cream Pie! Man, does this just work out great or what!?
Ok, so on with the pie. By the way, it was a big success and loved by all. Here we go.
Banana Cream Pie
Now this thing is split into three parts to make it even more exciting. You have the crust, filling, and then a whipped cream topping (if you wish). A few tips to help along the way:
1. I like to use cinnamon in the crust, it adds a nice twist. Also, I normally make a vanilla wafer crust but for this one I used graham crackers. I’m thinking of doing the next one with some coconut.
2. For the filling, realistically you are just making a home made vanilla pudding and pouring it over bananas. So, if you are feeling less than inclined to make the filling from scratch, just use some Jello pudding.
3. The whipped cream topping is crazy easy to make, but once again, you can just use store-bought whipped cream if you prefer. Oh, and if you do make it from scratch, I recommend an electric mixer.
Graham cracker crust
1/4 cup white sugar
8 graham crackers, or one package if you use the same kind as me (Honeymaid). If you would like to use vanilla wafers, just make it 1 1/4 cup crushed wafers, and you can leave out the sugar.
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1. Crush the graham crackers (I use a food processor) and then mix the dry ingredients together.
2. Add the melted butter and mix well. Press into a pie dish all the way up the sides.
3. Bake for 5 minutes at 350 degrees. Set aside to cool. It should look something like this.
Pie Filling
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
4-7 bananas, depending on the size (if you see the above picture, they were kinda small, so I used 7 of them)
1. Combine the sugar, flour, and salt in a saucepan. Slowly add the milk while stirring.
2. Cook over medium heat until the mixture becomes bubbly. Now here is one of the tricky parts, and why you might end up just using Jello pudding. You have to stir, and stir, and stir. And do not raise the heat because you get impatient. You need to keep the heat at medium and just keep stirring until the mixture boils, and making something boil at medium heat takes a while. Now you might be asking, “Well why does it matter so much that I stir and keep the heat at medium?” Well, the answer is sure to arrive in the gross flour layer that will form to the sides and bottom your saucepan if you let it sit, or heat it up too high too fast. This is because it takes time for flour to mix straight into a lot of liquid, like 2 cups of milk, and it is used to thicken the mixture. So be gentle and patient, it’s well worth it. Once it starts to boil and bubble, cook for about 2 more minutes, still stirring, and then remove from the heat. It should be looking something like this.
3. Now for the next tricky part, and the one I hate the most. You are going to put a little bit of the milk mixture into the eggs, and then add everything back to the saucepan. I know this sounds kinda weird, but it if very important to do this. It prevents Scrambled Egg Banana Cream Pie. If you just add the eggs to the mixture all at once, the temperature change if too fast for the eggs, and they scramble. Trust me, it is not fun. So, add a little bit of the milk mixture to the beaten egg yolks, and then immediately add the eggs back into the saucepan. Cook all of this for two more minutes, making sure you stir the whole time. You should feel the burn in your wrist around this time.
4. Remove the saucepan from the heat, add the vanilla and the butter, and stir until it is all smooth.
5. Now, set your mixture aside and get to slicing some bananas. Fill up the crust with delicious bananas. I prefer to just slice and then throw them in like so.
Once the bananas are in, give the mixture a quick stir and pour it on top. Then throw your pie in the fridge to cool off for at least one hour.
Whipped Cream Topping
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
1 tablespoon cold water
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. This is really easy once you get it down, and especially if you use an electric mixer. So go ahead and mix the gelatin and water together, give it a stir and let it sit for one minute. Then, pop it into the microwave for 30 seconds to melt it.
2. Beat the cream on high speed or as fast as you can until it becomes very frothy and starts to create soft peaks.
3. While the mixer is running, add the sugar, and keep beating until stiff peaks form. This is when it’ll start looking like whipped cream.
4. Add the vanilla and the gelatin, reduce the speed a bit, and mix until it is all combined. you should have nice fluffy whipped cream now.
5. Place the whipped cream in the fridge for about 30 minutes before using, just to make it easier to spread.
Finally, just simply spread the whipped cream on top of the pie, and you have created a little bit of wonderful. Congratulations.
Here is my final masterpiece. Don’t think too much about the garnish, I am not very artistic when is comes to using bananas.
Please leave any comments or questions. This is a really wonderful pie, and it is quite exciting to bring everything together, and it tastes great!
