Lousy photo I know! Forgot to take picture and this is on a plate, mostly eaten, with berry ice cream.
This is part of an email I received in the morning after serving this pie the night before:
Gregg just came in from a run, opened the fridge and asked if there was any more of your pie! He said that it was “the most decadent outstanding thing he has ever eaten”… coming from a non dessert eater, not a bad compliment! So I found the recipe on your blog, but where did you add the bananas?
Nice, right? So yes, this is very similar to the salted caramel pie – but the caramel is a little richer (omgoodness) and there is the addition of bananas. So delicious. Rich though. VERY rich. Beth called me the morning after I brought the pie to her house and asked if I could bring some back (she made me take it home the night before!) She said Jason (her son) wanted to try it because Sarah (her daughter) told him how good it was (she sampled the night before). I also think Beth wanted it too and regretted forcing it upon me as I left her house! I was more than happy to get it out of my house because although I do have decent restraint, I couldn’t stop taking spoonfuls in the early am! And honestly at that point it was making me feel sick. Anyway – that is how Gregg was lucky to find it in his refrigerator the next AM. This recipe came from Jill O’Connor’s cookbook Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey. And it is a good one! Enjoy –
You can start this pie the day before you plan to serve it if you like. Just save the bananas and whipped cream for the next day. You can also make the caramel filling 2-3 days before and store in a container until ready to use. This would be nice also in parfait glasses — no crust and just layer with whipped cream and bananas.
banana caramel cream pie (slightly adapted from cookbook above):
filling-
2 cans (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter (melted, unsalted)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
crust –
2 1/2 cups wholemeal digestive biscuit crumbs — or graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/3 teaspoon kosher salt
topping –
3 medium barely ripe bananas
2 cups heavy cream
1.5 to 2.5 tablespoon sugar (to taste) – I prefer my whipped cream to be less sweet here since the caramel is very sweet.
Place rack in middle of oven and preheat to 400 degrees.
For the filling, stir together the condensed milk, vanilla, dark brown sugar, melted butter and salt. Place mixture in a 6 cup oven proof dish – a Pyrex pan is good. To see if 6 cups will fit in your pan, just pour 6 cups of water into it and see. If you need to go bigger that is fine, but cooking time will be less. Cover the pan with foil.
Place the pan with the covered mixture in it into another pan (9×13) and place in the oven. Similar to chocolate photo below (although your’s will be covered and likely in a rectangular pan.) Next pour very hot water into the larger pan so that it
comes up about 1/2 way up the sides of the dish. Bake this mixture until it as reduced and thickened and turned a nice toasty caramel color. This should take 1 1/2 -2 hours – and try to stir with a spatula every 15 minutes or so.
When done, carefully remove from oven and the water bath and let cool. Reduce temp to 350 degrees. If you are waiting to use the filling cover and refrigerate once cooler.
For the crust — in a medium bowl, combine the crumbs, butter and sugar and salt. Stir until crumbs are wet and all is combined. Press into a 9 inch pie plate or a 9 inch tart pan (3 inches deep). Bake at 350 until fragrant and a little crisp about 8-10 minutes. Place on rack and let cool.
When the caramel is cool but still soft, spoon into the cooled crumb crust – spread in an even layer an refrigerate until the filling is set. You can cover and keep pie at this point for 24 hours. Or, just chill for 2 hours.
Cut the bananas into 1/2 inch thick slices and place them all over the caramel filling.
Place the heavy cream and sugar in the bowl of your electric mixer – or with hand held beaters and whisk on medium speed until medium peaks form. Spoon the whipped cream on top of the bananas – and make sure to cover the bananas to prevent browning.
Chill in fridge until ready to serve.
Yum!
