Banana Cream Pie

Banana Cream Pie

I have to say, banana cream pie can have a bad reputation. It was a big deal back in the 1950's but isn't the most popular dessert in our Instagram era of donuts and cake pops! Well, I am here to change that with my updated Banana Cream Pie recipe! I made this on Home and Family recently, but instead of a pie, I put them in little jars, which make them perfectly portable for a picnic.

The recipe below is the step out for the filling and you can change up the crust depending on how you want to serve your pie! If you want to put them into little jars like this, the Nilla Wafers as the "crust" taste really really great!! If you want to make this into a regular pie, you can make a crust out of Nilla Wafer or graham crackers! Both taste great with the banana filling.

Banana Cream Pie

Banana Cream Pie

Banana Cream Pie

Ingredients

• Ingredients for Banana Cream Pie Crust

• 1 ½ cup graham cracker crumbs (nilla wafers can be used as well)

• ¼ cup sugar

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 6 tablespoons melted butter

• Ingredients for Banana Cream Pie Filling

• 2-3 bananas depending on size

• 2 cups whole milk

• 3 egg yolks; room temperature

• 1/3 cup flour

• 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

• ½ cup sugar

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

• Whipped cream for topping; optional

• **To make these into jars, you can use nilla wafers instead of the graham cracker crust

Instructions

1. Directions for Banana Cream Pie

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

3. In a large bowl, combine the graham crackers, butter, sugar, and salt and mix until well combined; it helps to use a fork or your hands!

4. Pour the mixture into a pie pan, and press it down with your hands (or the bottom of a measuring cup) until it is evenly distributed around the pie pan

5. Bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes, or until fragrant and slightly golden

6. Set aside to cool

7. Combine the flour and sugar in a <g class="gr_ gr_45 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear ContextualSpelling ins-del" id="45" data-gr-id="45">sauce pan</g>, place over medium heat and whisk in the milk and sweetened <g class="gr_ gr_44 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear ContextualSpelling ins-del" id="44" data-gr-id="44">condense</g> milk

8. Cook over medium heat, stirring <g class="gr_ gr_47 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear Punctuation only-del replaceWithoutSep" id="47" data-gr-id="47">constantly,</g> until it begins to bubble. Cook while stirring for about 3 minutes until thickened and remove from heat

9. Add about a half cup or so of the milk mixture into the egg yolks while whisking continuously; this will bring up the temperature of the egg yolks so that they can be added to the warm milk mixture without scrambling

10. Add the egg mixture to the pan while whisking continuously until it is well combined

11. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a large bowl; this helps to remove any pieces of yolk that may have been <g class="gr_ gr_46 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear Punctuation only-del replaceWithoutSep" id="46" data-gr-id="46">cooked,</g> or any lumps

12. Whisk in the butter and vanilla

13. Allow to cool slightly, and then use a stand-mixer or hand-mixer to add the cream cheese in small pieces and whisk until all combine and mixed well

14. Cut the bananas into small slices and line bottom of the pie with the slices

15. Pour the pudding over the bananas and top with more bananas and whipped cream

16. Refrigerate for at least 4-6 hours; this can be made ahead of time

17. Note: If you want to make these into little jars, you can use Nilla Wafers instead of the graham cracker crust.