Tag Archives: banana

Ruth’s cousins were in town visiting from Kentucky and she was hosting a dinner party in their honor.  She, of course, invited Andrea and I to the party so I offered to make dessert.  There wasn’t a dessert that was particularly inspiring to me at the time, so I told Ruth to look around my Pinterest boards and find something I should make.

She chose this pie, this pie with 30 steps.  Yep!  Sure!  Why not?  It only has five different components.  Totally a piece of cake (pie), I’ll just phone this one in!

Not so much.  I’m not saying any specific step was difficult, just time consuming.  This pie requires some planning:  make the pie crust and refrigerate.  Roll and bake the pie crust, let cool.  Make the pastry cream, let cool.  Here is the biggie – assemble the pie at least 2 hours before you want to serve, refrigerate.  Make the fudge sauce now!  Right before serving make your whipped cream and top and garnish.  Piece of cake (pie)!

I’m writing this post from my work computer in a mood of uncertainty.  My computer it giving me the blue screen of death despite being told that Macs don’t do blue screens of death.  Well, I’m staring at one buddy!  I really don’t want to go buy a new computer right now, the funds are just not where they should be…

However, I do use my computer A LOT and I’ve been powering this blog on a five year old MacBook.  I can’t even download proper photo editing software     I honestly can’t use any new programs because it won’t let me input my password.  I’m not going to lie, I’ve been looking at new computers, I even have one all picked out, but I’ve been waiting, trying  to be financially responsible.  I have known for awhile that my computer was terminal, but I was just hoping to make it until January when my tax return came back.

Ok, enough whining, back to the the pie.  Despite laborious steps, this pie is quite delicious!  This is definitely an elevated banana cream pie, the chocolate and peanut butter are welcome additions.  I would recommend cutting smaller pieces, this is a rich dessert!  Let’s walk through each part of the pie!

Crust – Flaky, sweet, and the best pie crust I’ve ever made!  Making the dough in the mixer is totally the way to go

Chocolate/Peanut Butter/Banana – There was some debate here.  Some tasters enjoyed the stiffness of the chocolate on the crust, but others found it difficult to eat.  I didn’t particularly enjoy the stiff chocolate on the crust.  Next time I would either mix the peanut butter and melted chocolate together to spread on the bottom OR spread fudge sauce on the bottom!  There was plenty of extra fudge sauce!  The peanut butter is awesome, so incredibly salty and gooey!

Banana Pastry Cream – The pastry cream was smooth and perfectly sweet but I wish it had more banana flavor.  Maybe banana extract of more banana liquor.

Whipped Cream/Garnish – How can you go wrong with whipped cream?!?! Come on!  Add lots of chocolate fudge, it makes everything better!

Was this pie worth it?  Yes!  Sweet, nostalgic, and challenging – my favorite type of dessert!

Print the Recipe!

Banana Cream Pie with Chocolate & Peanut Butter
Adapted from Annie’s Eats (all the parts are from Annie and are linked in her post)
Yield – 9” pie, 8-10 servings
Crust
8 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons very cold water (I add ice cubes to water and measure from that)

1. Cut the butter into small pieces and toss with 1/4 cup of flour.  Place in the freezer while you gather the rest of the ingredients.
2. Add the remaining 1 cup of flour into the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment with the sugar and salt.  Mix to combine the dry ingredients.
3. Add the butter into the mixer and blend on medium speed until the mixture is in coarse crumbles.
4. Add the water and mix on low until just combined.
5. Knead the dough together to form a disk and wrap in plastic.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 400 F.
7. Lightly flour a surface and roll out your pie dough into a circle large enough to fit in a 9” pie pan.  Carefully lift the dough and set in the pie pan.
8. Trim any excess dough and crimp the edges to reflect your unique style.  Prick the sides and bottom of the crust with a fork.
9. Line the dough with parchment paper and fill with pie weights – I use dried beans for this exclusive purpose.
10. Bake for 15-20 minutes and then remove the beans and bake for another 5-10 minutes to brown the crust.
11. Let cool on a wire rack.

Banana Pastry Cream Filling
1/4 cup banana liqueur
3 1/2 teaspoon powdered, unflavored gelatin (about 1 1/2 packets)
1 vanilla bean
2 3/4 cups whole milk
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch

1. Add the banana liqueur to a small glass bowl and sprinkle the gelatin on top.  Set aside for about 5 minutes to bloom.  Microwave for 10 seconds to dissolve the gelatin.
2. Add the milk to a medium saucepan and split the vanilla bean. Scrape the seeds with the back of your knife and add to the milk.  Throw in the vanilla bean pod for good measure.  Slowly heat the milk until it boils.
3. Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow.  Then whisk in the cornstarch.  Add a ladle full of hot milk to the egg mixture slowly to heat the eggs.  Once the eggs are warmed, add everything to the pan on the stove.
4. Heat and whisk until the mixture reaches 170 F.  Whisk in the gelatin mixture.
5. Pour the mixture through a fine sieve to remove the vanilla bean pod and anything unpleasant and chunky.
6. Let the mixture cool for at least 30 minutes.  I put the mix in the fridge.

Hot Fudge Sauce
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
6 tablespoons corn syrup
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon vanilla

1. Make a double boiler with a small bowl over a small saucepan with a thin layer of water.  Add the chocolate and the butter to the bowl and melt slowly.
2. Remove the bowl from the double boiler remove all the water from the small saucepan.  Add the 2/3 cup of water and bring to a boil.
3. Add the melted chocolate to the boiling water and stir to combine.  Stir in the sugar, corn syrup, and salt.  Boil the mixture for 9 minutes with continual stirring.  Be careful, this gets hot.
4. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
5. Strain the mixture with a fine sieve and store until ready to use.  Any extra can be stored in the fridge and heated as needed.

Whipped Cream
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
6 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. About 20 minutes before you’re ready to make the whipped cream, put the stand mixer bowl and whisk into the freezer.
2. Add the heavy cream to the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment and beat on medium until you reach soft peaks.
3. Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat on high until stiff peaks form, don’t over beat.

Assembly
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3-4 bananas sliced
Whipped Cream
Hot Fudge Sauce
Honey roasted peanuts

1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in short intervals.  Spread on the bottom of the pie crust and put the pie in the fridge until the chocolate sets up.
2. Spread the peanut butter on top of the chocolate.
3. Add a layer of sliced bananas.
4. Pour the pastry cream on top of this and add another layer of sliced bananas.  Cover the top with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you are ready to serve, at least 2 hours.
5. Before serving spread the whipped cream on top and decorate with squiggles of hot fudge sauce, slices of banana, and honey roasted peanuts.
6. Garnish with extra fudge sauce and whipped cream.