Banana Cream Pie

I decided to make this for Thanksgiving dinner to take over with me. I had made it a week before for friends that came over. They really liked it and I thought that everyone at Thanksgiving would like it as well and I was right! I found the recipe in Dorie's Baking From my Home to Yours, which is the book that we use for TWD.

I highly recommend this recipe. It's pretty easy to make it just takes some time. I made everything in one day and it took me a few hours. If you want you can always make the crust ahead of time or even use a store bought one to save some time. When I made the first one I used the double crust recipe and just froze the other half to use for later. This saved me time for when I made it again.

I only changed a few things with the recipe. I used 1/2 of a vanilla bean instead of vanilla extract and I left out the spices in the custard because I didn't want the vanilla bean flavor to get masked by other flavors. I love this custard and I can't wait for summer to be able to make a fruit tart with it. I've been wanting to make a fruit tart but didn't have a good custard recipe.

I made one and a half recipes of the custard because I used a 11 inch tart pan and I wanted to make sure that I had enough custard. But you could certainly use a 9 inch pie pan with one recipe of custard. The recipe below is with my changes but for the one recipe of custard.

I also added a layer of white chocolate to the crust because I thought it would help prevent the crust from getting soggy from the moisture in the bananas. Plus chocolate makes anything taste better!

Banana Cream Pie

Adapted from Baking From my Home to Yours

For the Custard

2 cups whole milk (I used 2%)

6 large egg yolks

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed and passed through a sieve

1/3 cup corn starch sifted

Pinch of salt

1/2 of a vanilla bean

3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

1/2-3/4 of a cup of chopped white chocolate

2-3 ripe but firm bananas

1 pie crust baked and cooled

For the topping

1 cup cold heavy cream

2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons sour cream

For the crust

This is the same crust that I used for my pecan pie so you can find the recipe here. To fully bake it all you need to do is preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line your pie crust with foil and fill it with pie weights or dried beans. Place it on a baking sheet and bake it for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and pie weights or beans and return the crust to the oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Allow to cool.

Melt the chopped white chocolate and spread it over the cooled crust. This step is optional but I think it makes the pie even better.

To make the custard

Split the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds and the pod to the milk in a small sauce pan. Bring the milk to a boil and turn off the heat and let it steep for a few minutes. Strain the milk before adding it to the egg mixture.

Meanwhile, in a large heavy-bottomed sauce pan, whisk the yolks together with the brown sugar, cornstarch and salt until well blended and thick. While whisking add about 1/4 of the hot milk, then while still whisking add the remainder of the milk in a steady stream. Put the pan over medium heat and whisking constantly, bring the mixture to a boil. Boil, still whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes before removing from the heat. The custard should have thickened at this point.

Let stand for a few minutes and then whisk in the bits of butter, stirring until they are fully incorporated and the custard is smooth and silky. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the custard and refrigerate until cold. The custard will keep for up to 3 days so you can make this ahead of time if you'd like.

When you are ready to assemble the pie, peel the bananas and cut them on a shallow diagonal into 1/4-inch thick slices. Arrange the slices on the bottom of your pie crust. It's ok to stack them if you have extra slices.

Whisk the custard vigorously to loosen it and spread it over the sliced bananas. I like the spread it out so that the extra custard mounds in the middle.

For the topping

In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the cream until it just starts to thicken. Beat in the confectioners' sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until the cream holds firm peaks. Switch to a rubber spatula and gently fold in the sour cream.

Spread the whipped cream over the filling or if you want to get a little more fancy you can pipe it on.

This is the one that I made for my friends

Serve or refrigerate until needed. Enjoy!