Banana Cream Pie

So, this is rather late, but I decided to make a banana cream pie from scratch.  Usually I don't like banana flavored desserts because they remind me of that horrible fake banana flavor from kids' toothpaste, but I had been watching The Mind of a Chef featuring David Chang, and his pastry chef demoed their recipe.  It looked really good, and not too difficult to reproduce, so I gave it a shot.

I found the recipe here.

First, I took two very ripe bananas and froze them twice.  The formation of the ice crystals helps puncture any cells within the fruit, giving it a nice texture for pie.

I then blended them with 1/3 cup heavy cream and 1/4 cup of milk.

Next I added 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 Tbsp cornstarch, 1/2 tsp of salt, and 3 egg yolks.

I removed the mixture from the blender and started cooking over medium low heat in a saucepan.  This allowed the cornstarch to thicken the entire mixture until it was like glue.

While this was happening, I bloomed one packet of powdered gelatin.

I placed this back into the blender, added the gelatin, and turned it to high.

While the mixture blended, I added some yellow food coloring.

I placed the very yellow mix int he fridge to tighten up.

In my standing mixture, I began to mix up the cream for my banana cream pie.  I combined 3/4 cup of heavy whipping cream with 1 cup of powdered sugar.  I beat them together until medium peaks formed.

Once the banana mixture tightened up, I added it in 4 batches to create the cream.

I put half of the mixture into a chocolate cookie crust.

I sliced up a ripe banana and layered them onto the cream.

I topped it with the last of the cream, and let it sit in the fridge.

Tasting it, I have to say that it was one of the best banana cream pies I've ever had.  My husband loved it, and ate most of the pie on his own!

Enjoy