ZEIEN BANANA CREAM PIE

 

ZEIEN BANANA CREAM PIE

 

 

Special occasions call for truly special desserts!  What I love about baking pies is that the final result can, and inevitably gets shared with friends and loved ones.  This past weekend, I had the opportunity to share not only a fantastic pie, but for a fantastic occasion with two friends at their wedding.  As a special honor, I had the opportunity to share not one, but TWO of the Groom's favorite pies as a replacement of a "Groom's Cake."  I'm pleased report that I left the reception with both pie plates empty, which should say a little something about how good these pies were.



ZEIEN WEDDING BANANA CREAM PIE:

CRUST:

·         5 Tbs. Butter, Melted
·         1 ½ Cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
·         ½ Cup Chopped Pecans
 

FILLING:

·         1 Cup Sugar
·         ¼ Cup Cornstarch
·         ½ tsp. Salt
·         3 Cups 2% Milk
·         2 Eggs, Slightly Beaten
·         3 Tbs. Butter
·         1 ½ tsp. Vanilla Extract
·         6 large Bananas
·         2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  In a mixing bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and chopped pecans.  Continue to mix until all is thoroughly coated.  Spray mixture into a baking sprayed pie plate and press to bottom and edges evenly.  Bake in oven for 7 – 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool thoroughly.

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, salt and milk until smooth.  Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and slightly bubbly.  Reduce heat  and cook for and additional 2 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir a small amount of the hot filling into your beaten eggs, stirring quickly to prevent eggs from cooking completely.  Pour egg mixture back into sauce pan and mix.  Bring to a gentle boil, and cook for another 1-2 minutes, stirring continuously.

Remove pan from heat.  Carefully stir in butter and vanilla.  While the mixture is still hot, cover with plastic wrap over custard and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

While custard is cooling, slice 6 larges bananas and set aside.  With a mixer, begin whipping your heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form.  Set half of the mixture aside for covering the pie, the other half will be used for piping or decoration. 

**NOTE:  If you are content with simply a single top covering of cream, only use 1 Cup of Heavy Whipping Cream.

Alternating layers, fill your pie crust with custard, followed by a layer with bananas.  Repeat the process until custard mixture has been completely used, reserving some banana slices for the topping.  Return to refrigerator for 45 minutes to completely cool. 

Once completely cooled, spread whipped cream over top in a smooth and even layer directly to pie crust edges.  With a pastry bag and piping tip, alternate in a circle around the pie of circles of whipped cream and banana slices.  Return to refrigerator for 6 hours to overnight.