Banana Cream Pie

March 14, 2014

Today is March 14th. 3.14. A day known in some circles as Pi(e) day. Every year I see other people posting pies on their blogs in honor of Pi day and I kick myself for not taking that opportunity (can you tell that I am secretly a math nerd?). So this year I decided to jump on the bandwagon and actually post a pie on pi day. And what a pie it is. Rum Caramelized bananas topped with luscious pastry cream and topped with even more fresh sliced bananas. This is what a banana cream pie should be. This pie is so rich and creamy no one would ever suspect it is dairy free.

When I am thinking of making a pie I tend to turn to fruit pies rather than custard pies, but this pie has changed my mind. Now I have visions of the coconut cream pies, chocolate cream pies and all kinds of other cream pies I can make dancing around in my head. If they come out anywhere near as delicious as this pie I may never go back!

I have to say, although I am pretty happy about this pie, I am even more excited for Pi(e) day next year. 3.1415. It is going to be epic. I am going to have to start thinking now to come up with a pie worthy of that great occasion.

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Ingredients & Quantities

  • 1 (9-inch) pie crust
  • 2 bananas, sliced
  • 1/4 cup (2 oz) brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons (1 oz) + 2 teaspoons rum
  • 2 tablespoons (2 oz) natural salted margarine
  • 1 recipe pastry cream (see below)
  • 2 bananas

Preparation Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a 9-inch pie crust with foil and pie weights and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes more. Remove the crust from the oven.

Cooking Instructions

In a medium skillet combine the brown sugar, two tablespoons of rum, and the margarine. Cook, stirring constantly until the margarine is melted and combined. Stir in two bananas and cook until soft and starting to caramelize. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining two teaspoons of rum. Pour the banana mixture into the bottom of the baked pie crust.

Top the banana mixture with the pastry cream and refrigerate until set, at least two hours.

Right before serving slice the remaining two bananas and decorate the top of the pie.

Pastry Cream

Ingredients

  • 2 (13.5 oz) cans Thai styl coconut milk
  • 10 tablespoons (5 oz) water
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt (increase to 1/2 teaspoon if using unsalted margarine)
  • 6 tablespoons corn starch
  • 1 cup (7.5 oz) sugar
  • 8 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup (4 oz) margarine
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla

Preparation

  1. Place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl and set aside.
  2. Place the coconut milk, water and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the sugar, cornstarch and eggs until smooth. Slowly pour the milk mixture into the egg mixture while whisking constantly.
  4. Return the mixture to the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the custard thickens.
  5. Remove from heat and pour through the strainer into the bowl. Let cool for 10 minutes and then incorporate the margarine, one tablespoon at a time, whisking gently just until smooth.
  6. Cover the surface with plastic wrap, directly touching the cream, let it cool completely in the refrigerator.

Recipe Times

Prep

30 Minutes

Cook

15 Minutes

Total

45 Minutes

Recipe Yield

1 9-inch pie

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7 Comments

  1. Yes, next year should be pretty awesome, given the numbers! Banana Cream Pie is my favorite; when I was pregnant I made one on Sunday and ate a piece every day. Unfortunately I became allergic to bananas! Probably because I ate too much banana cream pie. So now I make the same custard and put toasted coconut on top. I am drooling over this.

    • This would be great with coconut on top. The pastry cream has a hint of coconut flavor so that would bring the flavor to the forefront. I may make it that way next time!

    • I made this for last Shabbat, and it was a HUGE HIT!
      Caveats: I hate margarine, so I used solid, coconut shortening instead.
      Also, I don’t have a fine, parve strainer, so I just skipped this step. Extra whisking while the cream was on the stove top seemed to fix the potential lumps issue.
      My youngest loved this so much, that he requested this pie for his next birthday Shabbat dinner.
      THANK YOU!

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