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| Banana Cream Pie |
Brian: Ever since we have started our pie blog, our friends frequently post recipes on our pages for inspiration. My friend Jennifer posted this banana cream pie recipe to my page, and while mulling around ideas, this is what we decided on. Besides, we wanted to make a pie that my son didn't particularly care for, because he just had his wisdom teeth extracted on Friday.
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| Early Stages of Crust |
Angie: I feel so bad for my son as he is recovering, but we are trying to do everything we can to allow him to heal quickly. We are also trying to prepare him whatever he would like, within the framework of the limited cuisine he can eat. Yogurt, pudding and soup have been staples. Though Brian is good with pie, his claim to culinary fame is his mashed potatoes, and those have been requested twice this week.
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| Bananas! |
Brian: I've kind of been slacking lately, so I wanted to be a bigger contributor to making the pie this week. I found the recipe and ran point on this one, though Angie was also an active participant as well.
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| A Unique Father's Day Gift |
Angie: Last week my crust just didn't turn out as well at all. It was like a leather strap. So this week I tried a new one. I have found that making crust, and rolling it out have become quite easy. I just haven't found a recipe that I love with the right amount of flakiness. This week I tried more butter than shortening and used a food processor. I've tried a food processor before but not this particular amounts of ingredients. I also purchased parchment paper this week and rolled the crust out in between two pieces. It was easy to turn out the rolled crust into the pie pan after the first attempt.
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| Playing with Parchment |
Brian: There were a couple of fissures in the first crust she laid out, but she was able to piece and fill in those areas. The second crust laid out perfectly. We also used one of my Father's Day gifts, pie weights, which are supposed to keep your crust from bubbling up as much.
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| Pie Weights in Action |
Angie: Both crusts baked pretty evenly, so I'm not sure if the pie weights made a difference or not. A couple of things we learned about them. You need to set them on something, be it a large circle of parchment paper, or an oversized coffee filter. This will prevent them from actually being baked in the crust, and makes them easy to remove. You also want to make sure to distribute the weights evenly on the crust.
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| The Parchment had creases, which you can see. |
Brian: We started the filling by scalding some milk. We've mentioned this on our custard pie blogpost. It used to be used to kill impurities, before pasteurization was invented, but it also is supposed to help better bring out flavors. We decided to try it, and I placed the candy thermometer on the side of the pan so we could monitor the temperature. You try to shoot for about 180 degrees.
Angie: I stirred the milk while Brian mixed together the dry ingredients. The recipe stated to have two different saucepans ready, with one being used to scald milk, and the other to have the dry ingredients. We just opted to mix together the dry ingredients, and then we added them to the scalded milk.
Brian: You cook until it thickens, and then you cover with a lid, and let it cook for 2 minutes. We then tempered in the egg yolks and cooked for one more minute. The last ingredients to add were the vanilla and butter, and then we had to wait until the mixture reduced to a lukewarm temperature. Here is a video showing some of the final touches.
Angie: You cut the bananas up right before adding the filling, and place them on the bottom of the crust. You then put the pie in the refrigerator to cool completely.
Brian: We decided to put Cool Whip on instead of a meringue, and I thought this pie was delicious. My mother makes a great dessert called banana torte, and this was reminiscent of that. As a matter of fact, we may experiment with combining the recipes one day.
Angie: The only thing about this pie I didn't like was all the banana's on the bottom. I'd rather have them throughout the filling. The filling was amazing and the crust turned out great, flaky, flavorful, and I just loved it. I really really liked this pie!
Pie Recipient of the Week:
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| Mackenzie and Tegegn |
My sister-in-law's brother just relocated back to Indianapolis. Chris and Sarah are top drawer individuals that you just love being around. Their kids, Tegegn and Mackenzie pictured above, are a trip and oh so much fun to hang out with. They were all painting today when we arrived, taking a brief pizza break, but we were happy to provide some dessert.
Recipe
9 inch pie shells, baked
3 cups whole milk
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 bananas
Prepare a 9-inch pie crust, prebake. In a large saucepan, scald the milk. (To scald milk stir constantly in a saucepan until a temperature of 180 degrees is reached) Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl and gradually add to the milk after scalding. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, cook until thickened. Cover saucepan with lid, stirring occasionally, cook for two minutes longer.
In a small bowl, have the 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten, ready; stir a small amount of the hot mixture into beaten yolks; when thoroughly combined, stir yolks into hot mixture. Cook for one minute longer, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and blend in the butter and vanilla. Let sit until lukewarm. When ready to pour, slice bananas and scatter in pie shell; pour warm mixture over bananas.
If desired, make a meringue (you'll have 3 leftover egg whites) to top the pie, or just let the pie cool until serving and top with whipped topping.
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