Banana Cream Pie for the love of my life!

The other dessert I made to take to my sister in law's house on Easter was a Banana Cream Pie for my sweet husband Brad. Sunday was our 6 year wedding anniversary. We enjoyed the day home together as a family cuddling, playing and having an Easter egg hunt in our backyard BUT the day was still a little bit of a downer. My mouth was still far from normal and kissing still (25 days later) was not an option so we just decided to postpone our anniversary celebration to this coming weekend when I will be all healed (more to follow).

My husband's favorite dessert is Banana Cream Pie. Personally I don't like it, but I wanted to do something special for him on our day. So all last week I had been searching for a recipe. I decided to go with this one from Martha Stewart. Brad and the family enjoyed the pie and I was more than happy to make it for my sweetheart. Brad said this recipe was a keeper.

Banana Cream Pie
Martha Stewart


All-purpose flour, for dusting
1 Pate Brisee, use 1 disc and reserve remaining disc for another use - ***see note***
•1/2 cup granulated sugar
•1/4 cup cornstarch
•1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
•4 large egg yolks
•2 cups whole milk
•2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
•3 ripe bananas, halved lengthwise, then thinly sliced crosswise
•1 1/2 cups heavy cream
•2 teaspoons confectioners' sugar
•1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Flling:

Combine granulated sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a bowl. Add egg yolks, and whisk until smooth. Bring milk to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup milk to yolk mixture in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly. Pour mixture into pan with hot milk, and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture begins to bubble and is very thick, about 6 minutes.
•Pour milk mixture through a large-mesh sieve into a bowl. Add butter, and stir until melted. Fold in bananas. Pour into crust. Place plastic wrap directly on surface of filling to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
•Make the topping: Beat together cream, sugar, and vanilla until soft peaks form. Spread whipped cream over filling. Using a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon, shape topping into peaks.

***Note***
The pie crust recipe I used was from Cooks Country (Recipe below)
No-Fear Pie Crust

Makes one 9-inch Pie Shell

The pastry can be pressed into the pie plate and refrigerated for up to 2 days or double-wrapped in plastic and frozen for up to 1 month. Once baked and cooled, the shell can be wrapped tightly in plastic and stored at room temperature for up to 1 day.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), softened but still cool
2 ounces cream cheese , softened but still cool

1. Lightly coat 9-inch Pyrex pie plate with cooking spray. Whisk flour, sugar, and salt together in bowl.

2. With electric mixer at medium-high speed, beat butter and cream cheese in large bowl, stopping once or twice to scrape down beater and sides of bowl, until completely homogenous, about 2 minutes. Add flour mixture and combine on medium-low until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, about 20 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl. Increase mixer speed to medium-high and beat until dough begins to form large clumps, about 30 seconds. Reserve 3 tablespoons of dough. Turn remaining dough onto lightly floured surface, gather into ball, and flatten into 6-inch disk. Transfer disk to greased pie plate.

3. Press dough evenly over bottom of pie plate toward sides, using heel of your hand. Hold plate up to light to ensure that dough is evenly distributed (see photo 1 at left). With your fingertips, continue to work dough over bottom of plate and up sides until evenly distributed.

4. On floured surface, roll reserved dough into 12-inch rope. Divide into three pieces, roll each piece into 8-inch rope, and form fluted edge (photos 2 through 4). Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

5. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly prick bottom of crust with fork. Bake until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack. (If large bubbles form, wait until crust is fully baked, then gently press on bubbles with kitchen towel. Bubbles will settle as crust cools.)

We had so much fun watching Gabe look through his Easter basket on Sunday morning and watching him play with his Easter toys and it was a blast having an Easter egg hunt in our backyard. Gabe was so cute and after I helped him find two eggs he seemed to know exactly what to do. I wish I had of taken more pictures but daddy was using the video recorder and I was trying to help.


Hmmm what's this stuff? Bet I can make a mess with it!

Mmmmm chocolate


Uh Oh- Good thing this is a picture and you can't hear me screaming for Brad to get a tissue before the chocolate hits the carpet. =)