Banana Cream Pie

Banana Cream Pie made with banana flavored pastry cream, layers of fresh sliced bananas and topped with banana flavored whipped cream. And of course, served up in a vanilla wafer cookie crust. This is the stuff of childhood memories!

For the all the years I have made banana cream pie, I apologize for not sharing this gem of a pie sooner.

Step one is making the banana pastry cream, of which I have made the process smoother and easier. It’s the same ingredients, but streamlined better process. The pastry cream is a combination of heavy cream, eggs and a few drops of banana oil. And, banana extract can be substituted if you cannot find banana oil. (See notes below in recipe for the substitution ratio.)

In a pan on the stovetop, cook and stir all ingredients, except the eggs. (See recipe below.) Once the filling is steamy it is then tempered with eggs, and placed back on stovetop and cooked until thickened. When the pastry cream is still warm from the stove top, press plastic right onto the surface to keep a skin from forming. Pop it straight into the fridge to cool for a couple of hours.

For the first layer, spread a small amount of the cooled pastry cream and placed the sliced bananas push gently into the filling. Leave space in between for the next layer to fill in and keep the bananas from oxidizing. Repeat for second layer. If doing a third layer, place bananas at a 1-inch margin around the sides before “sealing” with last of pastry cream.

If Chocolate Banana Cream, is more your game, check it out. It’s the same recipe, but with chocolate melted into the pastry cream.

Cover the entire pie with a layer of whipped cream. This ensures one more layer to keep those bananas from oxidizing. Pipe more whipped cream around the edges and garnish as you wish.

Bananas never tasted so darn good. Just remember, as soon as you slice into the creamy delight the oxidizing time-clock is ticking. So by all means save the last slice for yourself but cover those bananas!

Then again at 2 am when you’re eating by the light of the fridge, it doesn’t matter?

Print Recipe

Banana Cream Pie

Banana pastry cream, loads of bananas, banana flavored whipped cream, and served up in a vanilla wafer cookie crust. Let's go bananas!

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Author: Portlandia Pie Lady

Ingredients

Banana Cream Filling

• 1-1/3 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1-1/2 cups heavy cream
• 2 cups whole milk
• 6 drops banana oil (or 1/2 teaspoon banana extract)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 large egg yolks
• 2 large whole eggs

Bananas For Filling & Whipped Cream Topping:

• 3 large ripe bananas
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2-3 drops banana oil (optional)
• 1 9-inch prepared vanilla wafer or graham crust

Instructions

• In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks, eggs.
• Mix cream, milk, sugar, cornstarch, banana oil and vanilla in a large saucepan over medium heat until steamy but not thickened yet; whisking while cooking to dissolve sugar and keep mixture from sticking to bottoms and sides of pan. This should take about 4-7 minutes depending on your pan/stovetop. 
• Whisk in 1 cup of the hot steamy cream mixture into the beaten eggs to temper and then pour all back into the saucepan.  
• Whisk constantly and bring mixture to simmer until it thickens, about 5 minutes. Pour into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap pushed onto surface to prevent a skin and place in refrigerator for a few hours to cool (about 4 hours or overnight).

Pie Assembly

• Spread about 3/4 cup cooled custard over bottom of the cooled crust. Arrange banana slices over custard, pressing down slightly into custard, leaving space between bananas so filling will keep bananas from oxidizing. Repeat with custard and bananas, making custard the last layer. Cover with plastic wrap and chill.  (If doing 3 layers, leave a 1-inch margin around pie without bananas.
• Whip whipping cream with sugar and banana flavoring (if desired) until medium to soft peaks form, spread over pie & pipe extra around sides.  

Notes

Banana Oil to Banana extract substitution:  6 drops flavored oil (about 1/8 teaspoon) equals about 1/2 teaspoon extract, a 1:4 ratio. Flavored oils do NOT cook out or evaporate like extracts, which is why extracts are added at very end of cooking.