Now that Father's Day is over and our visitors have left, I've had some time to settle down. I thought I would post my other cream pie that I made for Father's Day this year which was a banana cream pie to accompany the chocolate cream pie. I have only a few days left until our very busy July hits with five birthdays to celebrate, plus our anniversary, plus the fourth of July. So, it will be a busy July. I've made this banana cream pie several times so I am finally posting it. In my family, chocolate cream pie is the favorite but honestly, this recipe is a close second. I usually make them together for a big crowd which I did this year for Father's Day because there were ten of us with my sister and her husband visiting and my brother and his wife also visiting. There are never any complaints about having too much pie.
After everyone left, I took a week off and went on an Alaska cruise with a girlfriend which was a ukulele cruise with a group of 70 of us. We all brought our ukuleles and attended workshops and jam sessions everyday of our seven day cruise to Alaska. I went on an Alaska cruise in 2009 and have been on multiple other cruises since my first cruise in 1983 so I was really looking forward to this. We had five fabulous instructors who were professional ukulele players and we learned so much.
We had many workshops where we learned topics such as how to play by ear; how to "noodle" or improvise; tips on song arranging; how to play a chord melody; how to play Hawaiian music and a lot about Hawaiian history in general which was my favorite part. Every Hawaiian song has a story behind it. We had an instructor who was an expert in the history of Hawaiian music and I just loved all his stories about every song we played. Four of the five instructors live in Hawaii and have retreats like this in Hawaii, too. Maybe someday we will go there for one but we did have fun in Alaska. We saw lots of beautiful scenery
rode a dog sled (on wheels, not snow) with dogs who have raced in the Iditarod where they train at a dog camp outside of Juneau, Alaska
and we even got to play with sled dog puppies.
I wanted to take one home...
Make crust for a single-crust pie
1-1/4 cups flour, plus extra for rolling out the dough
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled
4-6 Tbsp. ice water
I've been on enough cruises that I did not mind spending my mornings and evenings playing ukulele music; in fact, it made the cruise even better
especially since our instructors were so much fun.
We had many workshops where we learned topics such as how to play by ear; how to "noodle" or improvise; tips on song arranging; how to play a chord melody; how to play Hawaiian music and a lot about Hawaiian history in general which was my favorite part. Every Hawaiian song has a story behind it. We had an instructor who was an expert in the history of Hawaiian music and I just loved all his stories about every song we played. Four of the five instructors live in Hawaii and have retreats like this in Hawaii, too. Maybe someday we will go there for one but we did have fun in Alaska. We saw lots of beautiful scenery
rode a dog sled (on wheels, not snow) with dogs who have raced in the Iditarod where they train at a dog camp outside of Juneau, Alaska
I wanted to take one home...
We rode the train to White Pass when we visited Skagway, Alaska and learned all about the gold rush
and we also visited Ketchikan, Alaska.
The low clouds burned off here and we eventually ended up back on the ship soaking up some rays by the pool. Even in Alaska, we got pool time.
And we ate a lot of fine food - I mean, it was a cruise, after all. My June has been filled with lots of good food, to put it mildly. Now, here I am writing about banana cream pie after a seven day cruise where we spent a lot of time eating. The good news is...my clothes are still fitting! We'll see how well I do in July with all our celebrations - again centered around more good food. But that is the point of this blog, right? Food is such a focus of our lives; we need it to survive, we use it to carry on traditions and we use it for entertainment and for celebrations. Might as well make it the best tasting and best quality possible. And here it is for banana cream pie. How could you resist this?
Makes one pie
1-1/4 cups flour, plus extra for rolling out the dough
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled
4-6 Tbsp. ice water
1 whole egg for egg wash, optional
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
1. Process the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor until combined. Scatter the shortening over the top and continue to process until the mixture has the texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Scatter the butter pieces over the top and, using short pulses, process the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 pulses. Transfer to a bowl.
2. Sprinkle 4 Tbsp. of the ice water over the mixture. Stir and press the dough together, using a stiff rubber spatula, until the dough sticks together. If the dough does not come together, stir in the remaining water, 1 Tbsp. at a time, until it does. Form the dough into a 4-inch disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
3. Let the chilled dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling it into a 12-inch circle and fitting it into a 9" pie plate so it extends slightly beyond edge of pie pan. Trim, fold, and crimp the edges.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
1. Process the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor until combined. Scatter the shortening over the top and continue to process until the mixture has the texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Scatter the butter pieces over the top and, using short pulses, process the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 pulses. Transfer to a bowl.
2. Sprinkle 4 Tbsp. of the ice water over the mixture. Stir and press the dough together, using a stiff rubber spatula, until the dough sticks together. If the dough does not come together, stir in the remaining water, 1 Tbsp. at a time, until it does. Form the dough into a 4-inch disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
3. Let the chilled dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling it into a 12-inch circle and fitting it into a 9" pie plate so it extends slightly beyond edge of pie pan. Trim, fold, and crimp the edges.
4. Prick with a fork all over the pie crust to allow steam to escape. For a more golden crust, you can brush it with an egg wash - beat one whole egg with a fork and brush all over crust.
5. Line pie shell with a round of parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans.
Make the filling
4 large egg yolks
6 to 8 medium-ripe bananas
3 cups whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
5 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp. sugar
1. In a bowl, lightly whisk egg yolks; set aside.
2. In a saucepan, whisk together milk, granulated sugar, cornstarch and salt.
3. Bring to a simmer (do not boil), and cook, whisking constantly, 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Whisk a quarter of hot-milk mixture into egg yolks; whisk in remaining milk mixture. Pour into a clean saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until custard is thick and bubbles appear in the center, 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Transfer to a medium bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Set in an ice bath until completely chilled, 30 to 35 minutes.
(If you are making ahead, the filling can be kept in the fridge, covered with plastic wrap, up to 1 day.)
6. Cut 3 or 4 bananas into 1/4-inch slices, slightly on the bias. Beginning at the edge of the piecrust, arrange the slices in slightly overlapping rows.
7. Cover with custard, using an offset spatula to smooth it into an even layer.
8. In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine cream and sugar; beat until soft peaks form. Using a small offset spatula, spread the whipped cream on top the custard.
9. Refrigerate pie, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.
10. Just before serving, cut 2 or 3 bananas into 1/4-inch slices and place on top of whipped cream topping, arranging however you'd like. You can cover the whole top by overlapping rows of bananas (may need 3 or 4 bananas) or just place a few around the top, as pictured above.
Enjoy your banana cream pie!
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