So I’ve been thinking. Maybe because it is 2:45 am and daylight savings time is just killing me! Three nights in a row and I am still all kookie with the sleeping. I feel sorry for all of the parents who are trying to explain this nonsense to their kids who also must be all sleep kookie.
So back to the middle-of-the-night thinking. I was considering banana cream pie. Because this week there was pi day or pie day or whatever. Suffice it to say, this week pies got a lot of attention.
There were certainly a whole lot of banana cream pies on Insta. And they all looked just delish.
But I like my bananas with chocolate, thank you very much. And I like chocolate chips. And I especially like bananas when they are roasted. But you can’t really have a banana cream pie without yummy slices of fresh bananas so I put some uncooked ones in there too for all the purists so you will still try my pie. The roasted ones are all concentrated and soft and the fresh ripe ones are a bit firmer so the bananas “times two” are really a nice textural contrast.
So what’s a person to do with all of those ideas rolling around in her head all night? Make a roasted banana cream pie with a chocolate chocolate chip crust. That’s what you do. But you have to wait until (real) morning, not night morning (as in 2:45 am) before you can get cooking/baking. And while I am thinking in the middle of the night, I ask myself: if the pie never goes in the oven, does that still count as baking? No idea. But this pie is so banana-ey and so delicious, you will be so so happy to eat it! I was thrilled to find this very beautiful pie plate at Target. It’s like a Chihuly glass sculpture. Well maybe not that good but certainly an artistic step up from your grandmother’s old plain glass pie plate. Well done Pyrex for keeping up with the modern aesthetic. I took alot of photos of the lovely pie plate but I especially like the one that appears to be floating around in the air.
So after I made this luscious pie, of course I had to try to take some Insta and blog-worthy photos. Which leads me to another point. I am embracing the word “embracing”. It is such a nice word. Embracing as in hug. Embracing as in accepting something enthusiastically. So I am embracing this pie because it is so delicious. Those little chocolate chippies (mini chocolate chips have to be chippies, of course) combined with the crushed chocolate wafers give the crust the most amazing texture. From now on I am going to be putting mini chips in all my cookie crusts. I never realized what a great add they would be.
Back to embracing my pie. While it is delicious, it absolutely would not sit still for photos when I needed it to cooperate. Indeed, it kept dripping, drooping, sliding and flipflopping all over. Melting like an iceberg when all I wanted to do was take a nice static pic. The one thing about this recipe is that the creamy filling is definitely creamy. Like a delicious, smooth vanilla pudding. So I was going for a nice soft filling because the texture was fabulous but I knew this would cause a bit of an issue when I tried to photograph a pretty slice. Fat chance it would stand up straight. You can see below what a difficult time I had trying to reason with this pie. So you just have to trust me that this tastes far better than these photos suggest. I am a bit embarrassed by them so just figured I might as well show them all so I can be “authentic.” Another thing I aspire to be in MEtirement! Nope, not hiding any of my photography flaws. Just putting them all out there because I know when you make this pie you will agree that it may not be gorgeous to look at but it certainly does taste amazing.
In the midst of my photo shoot frustrations, I was reminded of all the times I had the crazy idea to take my three kids to sit for photos at a studio. Worst experience ever. Moms–you know what I mean. One child would always cry or throw up in the car. Then there was the time someone (accidentally, I hope) “bumped” their sister just hard enough to cause a nice red patch on her face just in time for the photo.
And today it all came rushing back to me as I tried to shoot these pictures. Ina Garten always jokes about certain cooking slipups looking like a “dog bowl”. I think of that sometimes and just laugh but today I just decided that I would EMBRACE this absolutely delicious roasted banana cream pie with the yummy chocolate chip wafer crust and just say to all my readers–trust me, this is so good that it doesn’t matter that it will stay in a neat little slice.
It’s just like your kids whose photos always warm your hearts. You treasure the images even if you almost had a nervous breakdown on the way to get them. Love this pie. Please.
Chocolate Chip Black Bottom Roasted Banana Cream Pie
Nothing concentrates the flavor of bananas like roasting them. But of course a banana cream pie must have sliced bananas as well so this pie as both. The chips in the crust give this pie a terrific texture.
Ingredients
- 9 ounces Famous Chocolate Wafers
- 3 tablespoons melted butter
- 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips
- 8 bananas
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice divided
- 3 cups whole milk scalded in the microwave
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2/3 cup cornstarch
- 3 eggs well beaten
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 8 bananas ripe but not soft
- For the whipped cream topping:
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
Instructions
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Place a medium sized metal bowl and the beaters to a hand mixer in the freezer for at least an hour before making the whipped cream topping.
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Crush the wafers in the food processor until very fine. Add the melted butter through the feed tube and process just until combined. Add the mini chocolate chips and pulse no more than 5 times. You do not want to break up the chips but you want them to be well-blended.
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Press the chocolate crust into a 9 inch pie plate with deep sides by pouring the crumbs into the pie plate and spreading them out with your fingers. Once they are evenly spread on the bottom, cover them with a sheet of plastic wrap and press the crust evenly into the pie plate. Refrigerate the crust for up to a day.
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
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Roast 4 of the bananas by slicing them lengthwise, coating them with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and putting them in a lightly buttered baking dish. Bake them for 20 minutes and let them cool. You can make these a day ahead of time also.
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Scald milk in a glass measuring cup in the microwave. In a large, heavy saucepan combine the sugar and cornstarch with a whisk. Over medium heat add the scalded milk and whisk until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes.
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Whisk a little of the milk mixture into the eggs until well-combined and then add the egg mixture back into the saucepan. Heat the custard mixture over medium heat until it is thick, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla. Refrigerate the custard for at least four hours or optimally, overnight.
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When ready to serve the pie, cut the roasted bananas into 1 inch pieces and spread them evenly over the crust. Slice the remaining 4 bananas and combine them with the remaining lemon juice. Place about 2 of the uncooked bananas over the roasted bananas and spread half of the custard over them. Repeat with the remaining two bananas cover them with the remaining custard.
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In the cold bowl, combine all of the topping ingredients and beat until stiff peaks form. Spread the topping over the pie and serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.