Banana Cream Pie

I must be going bananas as this is my second recipe of the week featuring them.  I couldn't let summer slip on by without making a pie and while I do love myself a peach pie or a strawberry pie, I really wanted a cold slice of banana cream pie.

The crust and the pastry cream were directly out of Martha's Pies and Tarts.  This is one of my favorite go to books for pies.  The crust aslo known as pate brisee was simply amazing; it's practically fail proof.  One thing that disappointed was the pastry cream.  I thought it would set up a bit more but it never did.  So, it ended up more like pudding.  The two other times I made a banana cream pie, one with pastry cream and one with  pudding, I didn't have this problem at all.  Regardless, it tasted spot on.

Banana Cream Pie

Naturally, I offer to bring dessert to a dinner party at a friend's house.  I knew I wanted to make a banana cream pie after finding a basic pie crust recipe in my new cookbook, Ad Hoc At Home.  (Spent last weekend in Napa and was very fortunate to be at Ad Hoc on the day they were serving Chicken and Waffles.. best I ever had!  Had to pick up a copy of their cookbook which was already signed by Chef Thomas Keller but then Chef Dave Cruz signed and dated it that day as well.  So awesome!)  Already prepared with a bunch of bananas, a go to pastry cream recipe (adapted from All Recipes), and a go to whipped cream frosting recipe, this was very easy to put together the day of.

 

Bake a basic pie crust

Layer with bananas

Cover in pastry cream

Add whipped cream frosting