Lately, I’ve been craving banana desserts. I’ve had banana cream pie on my brain for a few weeks, then recently, I started dreaming about banana pudding. So I said to myself, “Why settle for one? What if I can combine them and enjoy both at the same time.?”
This pie is the resulting product of a banana dessert marriage. It’s a very happy union!
Heat milk in microwave on high power for 3-5 minutes. You want it very hot, but don’t let it boil.
Combine one whole egg and two yolks and whisk with a fork until fully combined and bubbly.
Whisking constantly, slowly stir in 1/2 cup of the hot milk. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to whisk CONSTANTLY during this process! Otherwise you’ll end up with scrambled eggs in milk. (For this photo, I had already done the whisking, but couldn’t take a picture–I don’t have enough hands.)
Just to be on the safe side, you can pour the egg /hot milk mixture through a strainer to make sure there are no scrambles in your pudding. This is optional, but I always do it.
Combine sugar, corn starch, flour, and salt in a 3 quart sauce pan. Stir together, and add the remaining one and a half cups hot milk. Whisk until completely dissolved.
Whisking constantly over medium heat, add egg/milk mixture, and continue stirring until pudding gets thick and starts to bubble. Boil two minutes, more (whisking constantly).
Remove from heat, and add butter and vanilla. Allow butter to melt, and then gently fold together until smooth. Don’t beat.
Transfer to a large bowl, and lay plastic wrap directly on top of hot pudding. This will prevent a scummy skin from forming. Refrigerate until cool. (1 hour)
While the pudding is cooling, make the crust.
Crush an 11 ounce box of cookies to make 2 cups crumbs.
Melt 6 tablespoons butter in a pie plate.
Swirl the butter around to coat all sides.
Mix crumbs with butter.
Press into bottom and up sides of pie plate.
Chill to set.
When the custard has cooled and set,
Scoop half into the prepared crust, and gently smooth.
Cut the bananas into 1/8 inch slices.
Arrange the slices on top of the custard.
Scoop remaining custard on top of bananas and gently smooth.
Be sure that the bananas are completely enveloped by the pudding, and none are exposed to air. This will prevent them from turning brown. Cover and refrigerate 6 hours or overnight.
When you’re ready to serve, top with whipped cream, and garnish with bananas and mini vanilla wafers.
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ cup corn starch
- 1 tablespoon flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs (1 whole and 2 yolks)
- 2 cups whole milk
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 11 ounce box vanilla wafer cookies (2 ½ cups crumbs)
- 6 tablespoons butter
- Heat milk in microwave on high power for 3-5 minutes. (Don’t let it boil)
- Combine 1 whole egg and 2 yolks in a bowl, and whisk with a fork until foamy.
- Slowly whisk ½ cup hot milk into eggs.
- Combine sugar, corn starch, flour, and salt in a 3 quart sauce pan.
- Add the rest of hot milk (1 ½ cups) to the ingredients in pan, and whisk constantly. Slowly add egg/milk mixture while continuing to whisk. Bring to a boil, and let cook 2 minutes.
- Remove from heat, and add butter and vanilla. Allow to sit until butter is melted, then fold together until smooth.
- Transfer to a large bowl, and immediately cover with plastic, allowing the plastic to touch the custard. This will prevent it from developing a skin. Refrigerate for one hour.
- Scoop half the custard into prepared crust and smooth.
- Cut bananas into 1/8 inch thick slices, and arrange them on top of the pudding layer.
- Scoop remaining custard on top of bananas and smooth, making sure no bananas are exposed.
- Cover and refrigerate 6 hours or overnight.
- Top with whipped cream and serve.
- Crush the cookies.
- Melt butter in a pie plate then swirl it around the plate to make sure the sides are greased.
- Mix crumbs with melted butter, and press into the bottom and sides of the pan.
- Chill to set.
- This pie needs to chill for several hours or overnight.
