The Best Banana Cream Pie
Prep
25m
Cook
20m
Total
45m
Bigly says
Sit down for this one. Banana cream pie. The BEST banana cream pie. I have to level with you, because honesty is what we do here at BiglyEats — most banana cream pie in this country is a CRIME against the banana. Brown mush on a cardboard crust. The banana deserves better. The banana has done NOTHING wrong, and it's getting punished for the sins of lazy bakers. A disgrace to dessert.
I've had banana cream pie in every state. Every state. Including the small ones, the ones nobody talks about, the ones that get skipped — Delaware has a SHOCKINGLY good banana cream pie scene, nobody covers it, the food media is asleep at the wheel — and most of them are slipping. The bananas are gray. The custard is gloppy. The crust tastes like a graham cracker that gave up on life. And the cream? From a can. ALWAYS from a can. Who hurt these people. I want names.
Mine is different. Mine has REAL custard, cooked on the stovetop the slow way, RIPE bananas — ripe, not green, not black, RIPE, this is a Goldilocks situation and the wrong banana ruins the whole pie — and a graham crust toasted in BUTTER until your kitchen smells like a bakery in heaven. Real whipped cream on top, from a cold bowl, soft peaks. Aerosol can whipped cream on a homemade pie should be a federal misdemeanor. I'm just saying it. Somebody had to.
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cupsgraham cracker crumbs
- 1/4 cupgranulated sugar (for crust)
- 1/4 tspkosher salt (for crust)
- 8 tbspunsalted butter, melted
- 2 1/2 cupswhole milk
- 2/3 cupgranulated sugar (for custard)
- 1/4 cupcornstarch
- 1/4 tspkosher salt (for custard)
- 5large egg yolks
- 3 tbspunsalted butter (for custard)
- 2 tspvanilla extract
- 3-4ripe bananas(yellow with a few brown freckles — NOT green, NOT black, ripe)
- 1 1/2 cupsheavy cream(cold)
- 3 tbsppowdered sugar
- 1/2 tspvanilla extract (for cream)
Steps
- 1
Preheat oven to 350 F. Stir graham cracker crumbs, sugar, salt, and melted butter in a bowl until evenly moistened.
- 2
Press the mixture firmly and evenly into a 9-inch pie plate, building up the sides. Use the bottom of a measuring cup to compact it.
- 3
Bake 10 minutes until set and lightly toasted. Cool completely on a rack.
- 4
Make the custard: whisk milk, sugar, cornstarch, salt, and egg yolks together in a heavy saucepan until smooth.
- 5
Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and reaches a full boil, about 6-8 minutes. Boil 1 minute more, still whisking — the custard should heavily coat the back of a spoon.
- 6
Remove from heat. Whisk in butter and vanilla until smooth and glossy. Press through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl for an ultra-silky texture (optional but recommended).
- 7
Slice 2-3 bananas into 1/4-inch rounds and arrange half of them across the bottom of the cooled crust.
- 8
Spoon half the warm custard over the bananas. Add another layer of banana slices, then top with the remaining custard. Smooth the surface.
- 9
Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the custard to prevent a skin. Chill at least 4 hours, or overnight.
- 10
Just before serving, whip the heavy cream with powdered sugar and vanilla in a cold bowl until soft peaks form.
- 11
Top the chilled pie with the whipped cream. Slice the remaining banana over the top and serve immediately so the bananas stay bright.
One more thing
That's banana cream pie. Real banana cream pie. Not the sad supermarket cylinder with a single fossilized banana slice on top like a tombstone — that's not pie, that's a CRIME SCENE — but actual, layered, custardy, cool-from-the-fridge, makes-grown-adults-go-quiet banana cream pie. Make this. Serve this. Watch your family fight over the last slice. And there you have it.
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