Banana Cream Pie in Almond Crust

Submitted by evelynathens

"This is my adaptation of a recipe from Sarabeth Levine, of Sarabeth's. If you've never made a 'from-scratch' cream pie, it's not difficult at all, and so worth it for great flavour. Make sure you make the almond crust - like a yummy cookie!"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 25mins
• Ingredients: 18
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• Crust

• 6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 1⁄4 cup sugar
• 1 small egg, beaten to blend
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup finely chopped toasted almond
• 1⁄8 teaspoon baking powder
• 1⁄8 teaspoon salt

• Filling

• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
• 1 1⁄4 cups milk (do NOT use low-fat)
• 1 vanilla beans, split lengthwise or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1⁄3 cup sugar
• 1 1⁄2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 3⁄4 cups chilled whipping cream
• 1⁄4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 ripe bananas, peeled, thinly sliced

directions

1. For crust: Cream butter and sugar in processor until smooth and fluffy; add egg and blend until smooth; add flour, 2/3s cup of almonds (retaining 1/3 cup for topping), baking powder and salt and process just until combined; gather dough into ball; flatten into disk.
2. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 1 hour.
3. Press dough into 9-inch diameter glass pie dish, trimming excess even with edge of dish; crimp edge decoratively; refrigerate 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F; line crust with foil; fill with dried beans or pie weights; bake 12 minutes; remove beans and foil and bake until crust is set and edges are golden-brown, about 20 minutes; transfer to rack and cool.
5. For filling: Pour 2 tbs water into small bowl; sprinkle gelatin over; let stand 10 minutes to soften; pour milk into medium saucepan; scrape seeds from vanilla bean into milk; add bean; bring to simmer; whisk yolks, 1/3 cup sugar and cornstarch in medium bowl until thick; gradually whisk in hot milk; return mixture to same saucepan and cook over medium heat until mixture just begins to boil and thicken, whisking constantly, about 3 minutes; add softened gelatin and stir to dissolve; press plastic wrap directly onto surface of pastry cream and chill until cool, about 30 minutes.
6. Beat cream, confectioners’ sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract in large bowl to stiff peaks; carefully fold 1 ½ cups whipped cream into pastry cream; fold in bananas; spoon mixture into pie crust; spoon remaining whipped cream into pastry bag fitted with medium star tip; pipe whipped cream over filling, covering completely; chill until set, at least 3 hours and up to 6 hours; just before serving, sprinkle with remaining 1/3 cup of toasted almonds.
7. Note: Because of the bananas, this pie is best eaten the day of making as they do turn brown as time passes - the flavour's still great, though.

Reviews

[soulmatesforever]

This didn't work for me. So sorry! The cookie crust was so hard because of the almonds I guess after I refridgerated it.

 

[Marie]

This is a beautifully light and oh so delicious pie and the crust is to die for. However, plan ahead on this one because it is time consuming due to the chilling times for the dough and the pastry cream. It is definitely worth the effort! Thanks, Evelyn, you have such terrific recipes and this is certainly one of the best!