You can feel a full bite of Banana Caramel Cream Pie just spilling through your teeth right now, can’t you? It’s a sloppy, cold mess and it’s absolutely the reason we dared to turn on our ovens to blind bake a crust. We deserve something cold in our fridges to scrape a fork against in the middle of the night. We need something to bring us back in time.
A few nights back, I snuggled into freshly cleaned sheets after a freezing cold shower to binge the new Unsolved Mysteries. Absolutely, hands down one of my favorite shows as a kid. Ask me, and I can still recite the ending call to action for you. A slice of this pie paired perfectly with that very relaxing evening. Wet hair, a coiled cat, balmed lips, and a little something sweet.
It’s just what we need right now, isn’t it? Nostalgia. Something to bring us back to a time when going to the movies was a normal Friday night thing. When smoke piled out of pack yard barbeques and we licked salted rims and cherry Chapstick mouths. Something – just to remind us that we’ll have that again.
We will certainly have a sliver of banana cream pie after a birthday party once again. We will hug and be hugged. We will be worn out from our schedules and we will cancel for the sake of staying in. I promise.
In the meantime, let’s keep hope alive. Let’s make our favorite nostalgic treat, buy some Sunny D, wear some culottes, binge a re-make, eat some pie.
Some advice:
Make this pie is sections. You’ll need to blind bake a crust (also please just buy a store-bought crust and tell no one), then make the pudding, then let that sit for a few hours together, then add the topping before serving. Bake the crust the night before, whip up the filling in the morning – that sort of thing.
Absolutely take some shortcuts as I hinted in the last piece of advice. Feel free to buy the caramel sauce. But if you’d like a recipe, I’d go with this one.
The Nilla topping, it’s really something. Don’t forget this step. A nice crumbly topping is JUST what we need in this vanilla forward dessert.
Please don’t overwhip the whipped cream. It should be soft and fall onto itself nicely.
Banana Caramel Cream Pie
This classic nostalgic treat will remind you of the good ol’ days.
- Prep Time: 4 hours
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 1 9-inch pie
Ingredients
|| Crust ||
1 1/2 cup ap flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold
1/3 cup buttermilk, cold
|| Filling ||
2 bananas
1 3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup caramel sauce
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup corn starch
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter
|| Topping ||
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup caramel
1 cup Nilla Wafers
Instructions
For the crust, mix the dry ingredients. Grate the cold butter and toss with the dry ingredients, pinching together so that all of the flour comes in contact with butter. Mix in the buttermilk then dump onto a clean surface to knead until a ball forms. Shape into a disk and cover with plastic wrap. Place into the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Roll out the dough on a well-floured surface until it can easily drape over a 9-inch pie plate. Form onto the pie plate, cut and crimp as needed. Place back in the fridge for 15 minutes, or 5 in the freezer. Using a fork, score the pie dough on the bottom, place parchment paper on top of the crust and fill with dried beans or pie weights.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes then remove the pie weights and continue to cook 30 more minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
For the filling, heat the milk, heavy cream, sugar and caramel sauce together in a medium saucepan just until bubbling up the sides. In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks and corn starch together in a separate bowl. Take a few ladles of the warm milk and pour it into the egg yolk mixture while whisking. Then place the egg yolk mixture into the milk. Continue to heat the mixture, stirring consistently, until the mixture thickens and large bubbles appear. Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla and butter.
Pour into a medium bowl and cover with plastic wrap so that the wraps is completely touching the custard. Set aside for about 30 minutes.
To assemble, cut the bananas and place them at the bottom of the baked pie crust. Pour over the slightly cooled custard and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge to set for at least 2 hours.
Whip the whipped cream until soft peaks and fold together with the caramel sauce. Smooth on top of the pie, and crumble the nilla wafers on the top.
Notes
Keeps up to 2 days in the fridge
