Banana Cream PIe
Banana Cream Pie is one of the best American pies with a light and creamy filling and crumbly-crisp crust. Our graham cracker crust includes Coquelicot for the extra touch that makes it La Boite.
Ingredients
1 ½ cups graham crackers, about 12 pieces (180g)
-
½ tsp fine sea salt (2g)
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3 Tbsp Coquelicot blend (25g)
1 stick butter, melted (115g)
Nonstick spray
2 cup milk (500g)
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½ vanilla bean, scraped for seeds and skin reserved (see Recipe Notes below)
4 egg yolks
½ cup sugar (125g)
4 Tbsp cornstarch (28g)
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¼ tsp salt (2g)
3 Tbsp butter (45g), diced ½”
3 ripe bananas, diced
2 cups heavy cream (450g)
¼ cup confectioner’s sugar (50g)
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1 Tbsp vanilla extract (15g)
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1 pinch salt
Graham Cracker Crust
Banana Custard
Whipped Cream
Directions
Crust
- Preheat the oven to 325F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Start by greasing a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan with baking spray.
- Pulse the graham
crackers with the salt and Coquelicot in your food processor, add melted
butter, and pulse again until combined. The mixture will be like wet sand.
- Pour the
mixture into your pan dish. Press into the bottom and sides so that an even crust
forms — using a small measuring cup is definitely helpful.
- Bake the crust for about 10 minutes or until it sets, then let it cool completely.
Banana Custard
- Bring the milk with the scraped vanilla bean and the pod to a boil.
- Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium bowl.
- When the milk begins to boil, gradually whisk 1/3 of the hot milk into the yolk mixture (to tempering the yolks).
- Pour the warm mixture back into the saucepan and bring to a full boil over medium heat, about 3 minutes, whisking constantly.
- Remove from heat and whisk in the butter.
- Fold in 3 diced bananas and let cool completely. Pour the mixture a large shallow dish or baking pan and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until cooled but not completely chilled, about 30-60 minutes.
- Once cool, remove the vanilla pod (see notes below) and pour the filling into the prepared pie crust.
- Cover the pie with plastic wrap, and chill until firm, at least 3 hours but ideally overnight.
Whipped cream and finishes
Using the whisk attachment of a mixer, whip all ingredients to a stiff peak, keeping an eye to not overwhip it.
Top the pie with the whipped cream in big dollops (that's what I did), spread with a spatula or if you feel adventurous pipe the cream into a beautiful mound of deliciousness.
- Sprinkle some Coquelicot on top for a final touch.
- ENJOY!
Recipe Note
Recipe Notes
For the nonstick spray, I like to use Pam or something similar to help the crust from sticking in the pan.
Once chilled the crust may tend to stick to the dish. You can help to unstick it by dipping the bottom of the pan onto a large dish/tray filled with very hot water for few seconds. This will help loosen the butter in the crust that is adhering to the pie pan.
Plan on making the whipped cream close to the time of serving, it will hold in the fridge for a couple of hours but will soften over time.
Here’s a trick to protect the crust from getting soggy:
Melt 2oz white chocolate with 2 tsp of vegetable oil, combine well, brush it over the cooled down crust, and let it set in the fridge. This provides a great moisture barrier.
To scrape the vanilla bean, cut the bean in half to make 2 shorter pieces. Then, lay the pod flat and split the pod open by holding it flat and sliding a small knife parallel to the bean and cutting surface. Scrape out the soft seeds with the back of the knife and add it to the cream cheese and butter mix.
The remaining leathery skin can be stored in the sugar container. The skin will perfume your sugar and dry out completely.
I even save the one I use in the wet filling. Once it serves it's purpose, I wash it in warm water, pat dry on paper towel and stick it in the sugar container.
Once the skin becomes brittle, grind it in a coffee grinder and add the powder to other preparations that require vanilla ! NO WASTE in Vanilla :)
Questions? Contact helen@laboiteny.com
