Today, I’m thrilled to have David from Spiced Blog, guest posting here today. David and I met at the event in 2013 and we bonded over bread making! What David brought to the blog is a recipe I’ve honestly never made before, which is ridiculous since bananas are my favorite fruit of all time. This Banana Cream Pie is just the recipe to bid farewell to those summer days that passed way too fast!
A fewweeks ago, my wife and I hopped in the car and drove down to Maryland for the weekend. Herhuge family gets together every summer for a family reunion of sorts. It’s kind of like Christmas in July. Except there are crabs…lots and lots of blue crabs. This year, we decided to pack our bikes up and bring them along with us. My wife’s aunt and uncle live near the Antietam battlefield, and I thought it’d be fun to check it out.
I don’t claim to be a history buff, but I’ve always enjoyed history. Roman history is my absolute favorite, but early American history is also pretty darn interesting, too. I’d never been to Antietam before, and I was really taken aback by how awesome it was there. The entire area (3,000+ acres) is preserved as a national park, and there’s a paved road that winds through the center of it. We got there early, so it was a relatively cool and very peaceful ride through the hills of the battlefield. I found it pretty surreal to be in a place where such a large battle took place. If you’re ever in northern Maryland, it’s definitely worth visiting.
So what does Antietam and the summer crab festival have to do with Banana Cream Pie? Not a whole lot! Maybe being back south of the Mason-Dixon line made me think about this deliciousHomemade Southern Banana Pudding. Somehow that led to thinking about other banana desserts…and the next thing I knew this Banana Cream Pie was staring back at me. Hey, don’t question what goes on up in my brain!
Instead of a traditional pie crust, I decided to make a crust using ground vanilla wafers. I mean banana pudding and vanilla wafers go together likeBatman and Robin…so it only makes sense that this Banana Cream Pie needed a vanilla wafer crust, right? Oh, and did you knowthat the cream filling in a Banana Cream Pie doesn’t actually contain bananas? Nope. I mean you do layer sliced bananas through the center of the pie…but no bananas are harmed in the actual making of the cream filling. Fun food facts to know and share!
Banana Cream Pie
This Banana Cream Pie is pure comfort in a slice - serve it up and enjoy the last few summer days - they've gone by way too fast!
Print Recipe
Ingredients
For the Graham Cracker Pie Crust
- approximately 60 vanilla wafers 1¾ cups
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 6 tablespoons 3 oz unsalted butter, melted
For the Cream Filling
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups milk
- 6 tablespoons 3 oz unsalted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Pie
- 2 bananas
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Graham Cracker Pie Crust
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Place the vanilla wafers in a food processor or mini-chopper. Pulse until finely ground. (Note: This should produce 1¾ cups of vanilla wafer crumbs. If needed, process additional vanilla wafers.)
In a medium bowl, mix together 1½ cups of the vanilla wafer crumbs, brown sugar and melted butter. Cover the remaining ¼ cup of crumbs and set aside to use as a garnish.
Press mixture into the bottom of a 9” pie pan. (Tip: use a straight-sided glass to help press the crumb mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan.)
Bake at 375°F for 16-18 minutes. Remove crust from oven and set aside to cool.
For the Cream Filling
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cornstarch, salt and eggs. Set mixture aside.
Place the milk in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until milk begins to boil.
Remove pan from heat and gradually pour the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly while you pour.
Once fully combined, transfer the filling back into the saucepan. Place saucepan over medium heat until mixture begins to boil. (Note: Stir the mixture constantly at this stage to prevent it from burning.)
As soon as mixture begins to boil, remove it from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla.
For the Pie
To assemble the pie, pour approximately half of the Cream Filling into the cooled pie crust.
Next, slice the bananas and spread evenly across the pie. Pour remaining Cream Filling on top of the sliced bananas.
Using an offset spatula, smooth the surface of the pie. Cover and place in the refrigerator until fully chilled (~3-4 hours).
Finally, whip the heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract together until stiff peaks form.
Using a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip, pipe the whipped cream around the outside of the pie. Garnish pie with the ¼ cup of remaining crumbled vanilla wafers.
Serve chilled.
Servings: 1 pie
