Banana Cream Pie

 I decided to be adventurous, last week and try my hand at making banana cream pie from scratch. Banana cream is my least favorite pie, but I was looking for something different to do with my bananas. I must say that I'm converted and am in love with this pie. I guess the difference, between store bought and homemade, is that homemade tastes so much better. I always thought that store bought tasted too much like fake bananas. I really hate anything banana flavored. It reminds me of taking penicillin, as a child, LOL. But this pie was wonderful. It had a real banana flavor, which wasn't too overpowering. The custard did not taste egg-y at all, so that made it even better. I'm very proud that my custard turned out so well, and I did not end up with vanilla flavored scrambled eggs, LOL. This is rich, creamy and wonderful. I also made a banana graham crust, since I wanted a more intense banana flavor. I was a bit disappointed with the crust, which came out a tad chewy. The flavor was great, but I didn't care for the texture. So next time I'll just go with regular graham crust. Can't wait to make this one for my Dad!!!

Banana Cream Pie


1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 cups milk
2 egg yolks beaten
1/2 cup butter
1 T vanilla extract
3 medium bananas (peeled and sliced)
1 baked pie crust (9 inch)
1 cup whipping cream
2 T sugar

1. Stir together ½ cup sugar, cornstarch and milk until smooth in heavy saucepan and heat until boiling.

2. Stir small amounts of hot milk mixture into beaten egg yolks in a bowl.

3. Stir egg mixture into saucepan with remaining hot milk mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring consistently until sauce thickens and boils, about 5 minutes

4. Remove from heat, and stir in butter and vanilla. Cool for 15 minutes.

5. Fold in bananas, reserving a few for garnish, spoon filling into piecrust, then cover and chill 1 hour.

6. Whip cream in a bowl until soft peaks form and gradually pour in remaining 2 tbsp sugar and continue whipping until stiff peaks form. Spread on top of pie and add bananas for garnish.

BANANA GRAHAM CRUST

1 1/2 cup crushed graham crackers (about 16 crackers)
1 very ripe banana, smashed
1 T butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium mixing bowl, combine crushed graham crackers, banana and butter. Using a fork, combine ingredients until cracker crumbs are evenly coated (this can also be done in your food processor if you used it to crush the crackers- just pulse to combine). Press crumb mixture evenly into a nine-inch pie dish. Line with a double thickness of foil and bake for 10 minutes, then remove foil and bake another five minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.