| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 4 hr |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Inactive: | 3 hr |
| Cook: | 45 min |
| Yield: | 1 (9 1/2-inch) pie |
Ingredients
- 1 recipe Perfectly Flaky Pie Crust, recipe follows
- 4 large ripe bananas
- 2 cups whole milk
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into small pieces
- Coffee Whipped Cream, recipe follows
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon table salt
- 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, small dice
- 1/4 cup shortening, crumbled
- 7 to 8 tablespoons ice water
- 1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons coffee-flavored liqueur (recommended: Kahlua)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375 degrees F, arrange rack in upper third, and place a baking sheet on rack while oven heats.
- Meanwhile, roll dough on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch diameter circle approximately 1/8-inch thick. Transfer dough to a 9 1/2-inch pie dish and trim edges so there is a 1/2-inch overhang. Use excess dough to press crust into pie plate. Fold edge of crust back on itself and press, as desired, into a decorative crust. (Can be made 2 days ahead and kept covered in refrigerator until ready to use.)
- Pierce bottom of crust all over with a fork. Line pie with aluminum foil so it overhangs slightly and covers edges of pie crust and fill with uncooked rice, dried beans, or baking weights. Place pie dish on baking sheet and bake until crust is set and edges are slightly puffed up, about 25 minutes.
- Gather foil together and remove along with weights. Continue to bake crust until it is thoroughly golden, about 15 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and let cool a few minutes before filling.
- Meanwhile, peel 1 banana and place in a blender with milk, egg yolks, cornstarch, sugar, vanilla, and salt and process until smooth. Pour into a small saucepan, bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly until mixture bubbles and is thick, about 7 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter, a few pieces at a time, until melted. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Pour in filling into the pie shell and evenly smooth with a spatula. Slice remaining 3 bananas into 1/2-inch pieces and arrange on top of custard. Smooth whipped cream over top, loosely cover in plastic, and set in refrigerator until cool and set, at least 3 hours.
- In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, and sugar until well combined. Using clean hands, add butter and toss until just coated. Rub butter between thumb and forefingers to incorporate into flour mixture until butter is in lima bean-sized pieces and comes together in quarter-sized clumps when squeezed in palm, about 2 minutes. Add shortening, toss until just coated in flour, then rub into flour mixture until mixture forms pea-size pieces (some big chunks should remain) and comes together in fist-sized clumps when squeezed, about 1 minute. Drizzle in half ice water and rake through mixture with fingers until just moistened. Drizzle in remaining water 1 tablespoon at a time and comb through mixture with fingers to moisten. It will go from being a shaggy mess to coming together. Dough is moist enough when it is moistened through but is not wet when pressed. (Do not overwork the dough or it will become tough.)
- While rotating the bowl with 1 hand, push dough between other palm and side of bowl to gather into a ball. Turn dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, press it into a flat disk, then close in wrap. Place in coldest part of refrigerator (usually back bottom shelf) at least 30 minutes before rolling out and forming into a crust.
- Yield: about 1 pound dough (enough for 1 (9 to 10-inch pie dish))
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Inactive Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Ease of preparation: intermediate
- Place very clean glass or metal bowl and metal whisk in freezer just until cold, about 5 minutes.
- When everything is cold, place cream in bowl and begin to whisk until it froths up and starts to thicken, about 1 minute. Whisk vigorously until soft peaks form (the cream will hold a point when the whisk is lifted but will fall back into the bowl almost immediately), about 1 minute.
- Add the liqueur and whisk until stiff peaks just form (the cream stays put on the whisk when it is lifted from the bowl), about 1 minute. Store covered in refrigerator until ready to use.
- Yield: 1 1/2 cups
- Prep Time: 8 minutes
- Ease of preparation: easy
Reviews
Amazing!
I am only reviewing the crust…It is delicious
TERRIBLE! Complete disaster. This recipe is fundamentally wrong. I made it as written and came out with an overly sweet, overly dark, gloopy, runny mess with a soggy fluid soaked crust! First off: a good custard usually tempers the eggs first. So I was worried about it curdling. Also, the instructions are WAY off. It took a lot longer than the time listed to simmer. And, when it finally came up to temperature, sure enough it curdled. I tried to strain it to save it. I let the mixture cool in the fridge. Also, it does not say to cover it with plastic to prevent a skin from forming. I did, cover mine. After cooling, I poured my still soupy and now lumpy filling in to chill overnight. Checked it in the morning. The crust turned to glue from the excess liquid. The instructions say to add the whipped cream right away, but if you do that the cream will melt. The reviews that are positive all modified the recipe in pretty major ways. Please review the recipe as written, people. Thanks.
This is a great recipe except for one detail. Get real! Are you really going to use six egg yolks and then wastefully throw away all that egg white when you have a cream pie just begging for a nice merengue topping. Whipped cream is okay, but merengue is special. Except for this, I would have given the recipe five stars.
My pie taste like baby jar food and had the same consistency. Wasted money and time on this one. The filling was thick when I poured into the pie shell, after 3 1/2 hrs. In fridge it was not thick at all.
I was so looking forward to making this recipe over the weekend and carved out time to specifically try it out. I followed everything to the letter and assembled all the layers as instructed and then popped in fridge. About an hour later, I wanted to check on it and discovered that the whole pie was watery and everything (including my wonderfully stiff whipped cream ran into one another… It doesn’t look like it’s going to set at all as it looks ridiculously watery… When I set the custard into the pie shell, it was already thick and so I don’t know how it could have become so watery… It doesn’t say in the recipe that I should totally let the custard (after pouring into pie shell – which I let “slightly” cool off as instructed go totally cold before adding whipped cream… Such as waste as I was looking forward to it. The one star I give is because the taste was soo good! I don’t know what could have possibly gone wrong as I followed every step to the letter…
OMG…this pie is awesome. I made this pie on Easter Sunday, but it was actually a birthday pie for my son-in-law because banana cream is his favorite pie. First let me say that I have never made a banana cream pie before and second it was really easy. I never seem to be able to made a recipe without changing it, so for this pie, I substituted a can of coconut milk for some of the milk. I also made meringue (with the eggs whites for the top of the pie. My son-in-law could not get enough he ate two pieces after dinner and took a large piece home. He said it was the best banana cream pie he had ever eaten! I will be making this pie again and again…thanks for a great recipe, Aida!
This pie was dee-licious! Easy to make and the texture of the filling is so much lighter than a regular cream pie. I used my own recipe for the crust which is easy and flaky. I did 3 things different. First,I used light brown sugar in the filling because my dark brown had gotten hard. I think that’s why everybody complained about the color of the filling, the dk. brown sugar made it darker. Mine was only a little off color, but the taste was wonderful. I put a piece of saran wrap right down on top of the pudding so it wouldn’t form a skin & I let it chill in the fridge, then I put it in the crust. Second, I carmelized my sliced bananas then put them on top of the pudding. Third, instead of the liquor, I added 3 Tbsp. light brown sugar to the heavy cream and whipped it. I love this pie! I’ll make this over and over and now I’m going to go eat the last piece! I can hear it calling me from the fridge! Yum!
Hi Aida,
You so make everything look so easy and therefore, I’ve found your recipes fun, and easy to make!!! I make a boring banana cream pie every Christmas; this yr, I gonna give your recipe a try! From the reviews, I am sure it’ll be a smashing success!!! Love your show and keep up the fun cooking.
Merry Christmas.
You so make everything look so easy and therefore, I’ve found your recipes fun, and easy to make!!! I make a boring banana cream pie every Christmas; this yr, I gonna give your recipe a try! From the reviews, I am sure it’ll be a smashing success!!! Love your show and keep up the fun cooking.
Merry Christmas.
Thank you Aida. I enjoy your show you make me feel that I can cook too. I love the way you make the recipes look easy. The banana pie is so so scrumpous. I love the pie crust its tasty not boring. Because I watch my calories and sugar intake Christmas and my birthday is the only time I bake this pie. Keep up the great shows I’ll be watching them:)