Banana Cream Pie

I am the proud owner of Martha Stewart's "Baking Handbook." The cookbook has beautiful pictures and very detailed instructions. The problem is, most recipes are incredibly fattening. My pie came out a little runny, very pudding like. Even though I let it refrigerate for over 2 hours. It was delicious and everyone over had seconds!! The crust was very difficult to work with, but not impossible. Here is my variation on her recipe.

Crust - Pâte Brisée (her name for it, not mine!) PS - it makes enough for two pies.

• 2 1/2 c All-Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup ice water, add as needed

Sift flour and salt together. Cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender until it is small crumbles. Toss in the ice water until the dough comes together. Pour out on a work surface and push together and divide in half. Wrap half in plastic to put in the freezer for another day. Chill the other half in plastic for 1 hour. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick and place in a 9 inch pie pan. Trim the edges and curl under to crimp. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Vanilla Custard

• 4 large egg yolks
• 3 cups whole milk
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 5 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon good vanilla
  

Heat milk, sugar, cornstarch, & salt in a saucepan for about 10 minutes heating and whisking. Let it simmer but don't let it boil. Meanwhile, separate the eggs and beat the yolks together. After the milk mixture has simmered for at least 3 minutes, gradually mix a little bit into the yolks. Add the milk little by little until it is all incorporated. Strain (I used my flour sifter to strain.) the mixture into a new, clean saucepan and cook for another 2-3 minutes until thick, whisking the whole time. I think I should have cooked longer or until the custard was thicker. Pour the mixture into a bowl and place the bowl in an ice bath to cool down. Mix in the vanilla now. Cover the custard with plastic wrap and push the plastic wrap directly down over the custard so it is touching. I refrigerated the custard overnight, but Martha said at least 30 minutes.

Assembly

• 1 egg white
• 2 oz dark chocolate
• 2 bananas
  
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon good vanilla
• 1 oz chocolate finely grated

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Prick the the pie crust with fork and brush the whole thing liberally with a beaten egg white. Bake for 15 minutes with parchment paper covering the pie crust and filled with dry beans. Remove the beans and bake for another 10-15 minutes until the crust is all golden brown

Place 2 oz of chopped chocolate on the bottom of the crust right after it comes out of the oven. As it melts, spread with a pastry brush. After the crust has cooled, slice 2 bananas and place slices around the bottom of the crust. Pour and spread the custard on top of the bananas.

Beat heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, & vanilla with an electric mixer until stiff peaks. Spread carefully over the custard. Grate remaining chocolate and sprinkle over the whipped cream.

I'm not going to lie, this pie was a lot of work! I made the crust and custard the night before, baked the crust and melted the chocolate in the morning, and then assembled about 2 hours before dinner. Even though it was runny, the flavor was perfect! Martha says to add bananas on top, but I knew we weren't going to finish it all in one night and I didn't want the banana to get all slimy. Four of us ate half of it! I think the pie could comfortably feed 8, but you could stretch it 10.