Monday, June 18, 2001


a work emergency -- i had to go into the office this weekend -- kept me from posting. forgive me. but here now is the chocolate banana cream pie recipe as promised. . .

the pie is very little work -- probably 30 mins. in all. however, it need a couple of hours to chill between stages. and in fact it's better the next day. my advice: make the pie a day ahead so the flavors have a chance to meld. the pie is built in three layers: chocolate graham cracker crust, pastry cream filling, meringue topping. start with the pastry cream filling:

3 yolks from large or jumbo eggs (save the whites for the meringue!)
1-1/2 c. (12 oz by weight) milk or half-and-half
5 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon Plugra butter
3/4 c. (3 oz. by weight) granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Nielsen-Massey vanilla

in a heavy saucepan, add the yolks, sugar and cornstarch. whisk with a wire whip until smooth and thick. turn heat to medium, and gradually add the milk or half-and-half, whisking continuously. add the salt. cook, whisking tirelessly, until the pastry cream is very thick and bubbling, like a volcano. you should just about be able to stand a spoon in it. expect to whisk for 10-12 mins. the pastry cream must be quite thick or else the pie filling will run when you cut the first slice. remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla, whisk again, and pour into a glass bowl. let cool for half an hour and then chill in the fridge for 4 hours.

while the filling sets up in the fridge, make the pie crust. preheat the oven to 375 degrees. butter a 9-inch pie tin, flan ring, or spring form pan, and line the bottom with baking parchment.

12 "sheets" of chocolate graham crackers
6 tablespoons Plugra
1/4 c. (1 oz.) light brown sugar

graham crackers come 4 to a "sheet;" generally each box has 30 sheets, wrapped in three plastic packages of 10 each. so you'll have plenty of graham crackers left over for snacking! break up the graham crackers and put into a food processor. add the butter and sugar. pulse with the metal blade until the mixture holds together. that is, when you stop the processor and reach in, you can see the mixture beginning to hold together into clumps.
carefully press this mixture into the lined pan evenly. this is actually the hardest part of the whole recipe! coat the bottom with the graham cracker mixture, leaving enough to have a nice even coating that comes up all the way to the sides of the pan. bake in the middle of your oven for 7 minutes. don't let the crust burn! check it once or twice. it will shrink a little bit. cool the pan on a rack.

about 10 mins. before the pastry cream has finished chilling, get out your stand mixer! place the bowl and the wire whip into the freezer to chill. we're going to whip some cream and we don't want it to turn to butter! let the bowl & whip chill for 10 mins.

1/2 c. heavy whipping cream

attach the splash guard to the chilled bowl, add the cream, and gradually increase the mixer speed to 10. whip the cream until very stiff, about 3 mins. stir a dollop of whipped cream into the pastry cream to lighten it, and then fold the lightened pastry cream with a spatula into the whipped cream with care not to deflate it.

at this time, it might be lovely to fold in 1/2 c. of your favorite valrhona, chopped into small pieces. or you could use mini-chips. instead of chocolate, of course, you could add chopped nuts. . .or you can be a purist, and leave it be. . .

finely dice 1 or 2 ripe bananas and arrange them in the bottom of the crust. gently pour the filling over the bananas. dice another banana and arrange nicely over the top. cover the pie carefully with plastic wrap and let chill at least another 4 hours, if not overnight.

now for the meringue. attach the wire whip to your stand mixer again. preheat your oven to 325 degrees or your broiler, depending on your oven. if you broil the meringue, you must watch it very carefully lest it burn. in the broiler, it will take only about 45 seconds to acquire the golden color we want; but it will also blacken and burn the second after that. if you fear burning the meringue, then bake it at 325 for 10-15 mins. until slightly golden on top.

3 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup (1 oz.) confectioner's sugar

add the splash guard to your bowl. add the egg whites and cream of tartar. gradually increase the mixer speed to 10. when the whites are frothy, gradually add the sugar. beat the whites until very stiff, but not dry. spoon the meringue nicely over the pie. bake or broil until a nice golden color appears on the very top of the meringue. it will look like something on a diner counter from the 50s. very nice!

carefully cover the pie with a bowl or cake cover and refrigerate for another 2 to 4 hours. then serve. this is the kind of dessert that brings back childhood memories for those, like my husband, who can remember where they were when JFK was shot. . .memories of a simpler time, before you realized how boring eisenhower really was. . .

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