Banana Cream Pie: My Favorite Pie Ever!

Well, almost every last piece of our big ole pile of paperwork is in, just waiting to finish up our homestudy on Friday and send it off for the first big wait: approval from immigration. This is the trickiest one, because they quote you a 60-90 day wait! It can be less, heck, it can be under 30 days, but you just never know. Isn't that crazy??  It's hard to think about much else these days, I have to admit. Hang in there with me friends, I'll keep you posted! And keep posting :). I'm writing up half a dozen posts today, scout's honor!

Banana Cream Pie (adapted slightly from the Lion House Cookbook)
Printable Recipe

Crust:
1/2 cup butter, barely softened
2/3 cup shortening, cold (I like butter-flavored)
3 Tb sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 Tb powdered milk
3 cups flour
1/2 cup ice water

Filling:
5 Tb cornstarch
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup half & half
2 1/2 cups milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 Tb butter
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 bananas

Make your crust first! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cream your butter and shortening together until pale and fluffy. Add sugar and mix well. Whisk together the dry ingredients (salt, baking powder, flour, and powdered milk) and add to the butter and sugar, along with the ice water, and mix until the dough comes together. It should be the consistency of stiff cookie dough. If it's too soft, add flour 1/4 cup at a time, mixing well between each addition. This recipe makes 2 crusts, so divide in half and set one half aside, or wrap and freeze for another pie.

Roll your crust out to about 1/4 inch thick on a floured work surface. Transfer to a greased pie plate, crimp the edges, and gently press into the corners to make sure there aren't any air bubbles. Prick the bottom of the crust a few times with a fork to prevent the crust from bubbling. Bake for 15-20 minutes and set aside to cool while you prepare your filling.

Whisk the cornstarch, sugar, and salt together in a medium saucepan. Turn the heat to medium and add the milk and half & half. Whisk constantly until it thickens, just a bit. (I used to spend forever waiting for it to REALLY thicken, but it doesn't. If it thickens a little, looks glossy and smooth and even just slightly thicker than plain milk, you're good to go!) Carefully drizzle a little bit of this mixture into your beaten eggs, whisking well. Add more in a thin drizzle, whisking constantly, until you've just about doubled your beaten eggs. Slowly drizzle the egg mixture back into the saucepan, still whisking constantly. Continue cooking until it REALLY thickens, looks like pudding, and jiggles when you shake the saucepan. This will only take a few minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla.

Slice your bananas into your cooked pie crust. pour the filling over the bananas and smooth the top. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Top with whipped cream.

Honestly, I have no idea why it took me this long to post the recipe for my favorite pie in existence! And I wish I had better pictures of it. But you know me, the pictures are rarely exactly perfect! And half-way decent pictures are better than no pictures of The Best Pie Ever!

Where do I start?! Okay, how about the crust. Let's start this pie off with my favorite pie crust! I've never used it for a baked pie, just cold ones. You might think without the classic chunks of cold butter, this crust would be tough and blah, but I promise it's light and flaky and buttery and scrumptious! With a little more sugar than usual, it has a hint of shortbread to it too. The perfect base for the perfect pie!

Silky smooth vanilla custard, not too thick, not too sweet, creamy and deeeelicious! I like that the custard itself isn't banana flavored, that way you get fresh banana flavor and classic custard together. Yummmm! You've got to try this one. The hardest part will be waiting for it to set before you cut a nice big slice!