Homemade Banana Cream Pie

Living in Italy is all about eating, especially eating with friends and family, it’s deeply ingrained. So tonight we are invited to some friends house for dinner and I was asked to bring a dessert. I find that desserts in Italy are a little underwhelming. I mean of course there is the fantastic Tiramasu, the incredible Cannolis and the unforgettable Gelato! But cannolis were a little too much work and Gelato has to be gotten fresh from the Gelateria!

This particular family had just eaten a Tiramasu so I decided on a little slice of Americana: the classic Banana Cream Pie. I have come to really appreciate the value of American Pie while living in Italy. I mean, what’s not to love? A crispy flaky buttery crust filled with a sweet concoction and topped with whipped cream! So here is my recipe for the American Classic Banana Cream Pie:

Banana Cream Pie

1 prepared pie crust

(see my Buttery Flakey Pie Crust from my recipe Archives, it’s fantastic and it makes enough for five cream pies so you can freeze it in balls and pop one out of the freezer when you need a quick dessert!)

3 cups milk

4 eggs

1/4 cup of corn starch

1 Tablespoon flour

pinch of salt (1/4 teaspoon)

1/2 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 Tablespoons butter

Directions:

Pie Crust:

First roll out the pie crust and place in a pie dish, pinching the edges and poke all over with a fork. This will keep the pie crust from forming large pockets of air. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until a light golden color. Remove from heat and allow to cool. You could use a premade pie crust for this step such as a graham cracker crust but this is so much better! Allow the pie crust to cool while you make the custard.

Basic Pastry Cream or Custard or Vanilla Pudding Filling:

Seperate the egg whites from the egg yolks in separate bowls, refridgerate the egg whites for another recipe *

Mix the egg yolks with a fork and set aside

Mix the flour, cornstarch, salt and sugar together in a separate bowl, set aside.

Separate your eggs and mix together the dry ingredients

Pour the three cups of milk into a sauce pan and add the beaten egg yolks only, stir until incorporated.

Place the pan over medium high heat. Add the dry flour mixture to the milk and whisk together.

Add the cornstarch mixture to the egg custard

Cook the mixture, stirring regularly until bubbly, remove from heat. Add vanilla and butter. Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally to let the steam escape.

Pour into the cooled pie crust and slice 1 ripe banana into the filling, poking the banana slices to encourage them to go into the pie filling.

Top with plastic wrap and put into refrigerator until cool.

Note: If you add the eggs while the milk is still cold you will not have a problem with lumps. If you mix the flour, cornstarch and sugar together you will not have a problem with lumps.

Note: the basic pastry cream recipe can also be used for Coconut Cream pie or as a filling for Boston cream pie or any other use for vanilla pudding or pastry cream.

Whip Cream Topping:

1 cup whipping cream

3 Tablespoons sugar

Add the sugar to the whipping cream and whip into soft peaks with an electric mixer. Spoon on top of cooled pie, serve and enjoy!