Banana cream pie has always been one of my favorite desserts. It simply oozes comfort between the satiny smooth banana filling and the light and airy sweet whipped cream. I was so excited when I found the recipe for the banana cream pie served at Bubby’s Pie Co. Restaurant in New York City.
This restaurant was actually the setting for my niece’s wonderful Bat-Mitzvah party some years ago, so even before I tasted this banana filling I felt a devotion to Bubby’s.
I have adapted the recipe, making it in a tart form instead of the pie, and substituting a buttery cookie crust for their walnut pastry crust. I also added the whipped cream topping rather than the candied nuts callled for in their pie. But, the filling for this pie needs no adapting…it is perfect! So for all of you banana cream pie/tart lovers out there don’t wait too long before trying this…you’ll go bananas over it!
Banana Cream Tart (adapted from Ron Silver’s Banana Cream Pie)
serves 10
For the Crust (From Blueberry Tart, marthastewart.com)
1 and ¼ cups all-purpose flour(spooned and leveled), plus more for dusting
1/3 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, salt and butter, process until large moist crumbs form (dough should hold together when squeezed).
2. Transfer dough to a 9-inch round tart pan with a removable bottom; with floured fingers, press evenly into bottom and sides. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes;prick bottom of dough all over with a fork.
3. Bake until golden, 20 to 25 minutes; cool completely.
Filling
Vanilla Pudding (makes 3 cups)
2 cups whole milk
½ vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
1 cup sugar, divided
tiny pinch salt
½ cup egg yolks (about 6 yolks)
¼ cup cornstarch
4 tablespoons (½ stick unsalted butter, cubed)
In a large, heavy non-reactive saucepan (aluminum reacts and will cause a pudding to turn grey), combine the milk, ½ cup of the sugar, the vanilla bean and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the yolks, remaining ½ cup sugar and cornstarch until smooth.
Have the whisk, a ladle and a large glass or ceramic dish handy. Heat the milk mixture in the saucepan until it just comes to a boil, whisking it a bit as it gets steamy. When you see the first bubbles boiling up, take the pan off the heat and place it on a potholder next to the egg mixture. (To make life a little easier on yourself, put the egg bowl on the right if you’re right-handed, or on the left if you’re left-handed. Use your stronger arm to whisk; use your weaker arm to ladle the hot milk.
During the next steps, stir constantly or the eggs will coagulate and you’ll have scrambled eggs. This is quick work. Take a ladleful of hot milk and pout it in a thin stream into the eggs, whisking constantly. Continue stirring, and add a few more ladlefuls of hot milk to the eggs in the same way.
The tempered eggs are now ready to add back into the hot milk. To do this, whisk the hot milk constantly and pour the tempered eggs in slowly.
When fully combined, put this mixture back on the stovetop over medium heat and continue to whisk constantly. The mixture should be ready to come back to a boil very quickly. When the custard nears the consistency of pudding, take very short pauses in stirring to look for signs of a bubble surfacing (it is more like a single volcanic blurp). Don’t look too closely, or you’ll risk getting spattered with hot pudding. Just stir, pause briefly, stir, and so on.
When you see the first blurp, remove the pan from the heat immediately and whisk in the cubes of butter.
Whisk until fully combined and immediately pour the pudding into a large glass or ceramic dish to cool it down. While the pudding is still very hot, stretch plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding. Smooth out any air pockets to make the pudding airtight. This will prevent a skin or condensation from forming on top of the pudding.
Refrigerate the pudding until completely cold-at least 4 hours.
Stir the cold pudding and retrieve the vanilla bean. Squeeze out the excess seeds (those little black specks) in the interior of the pod with your thumb and forefinger-pinch and slide your fingers down the length of the bean, freeing the black seeds as you go. Do this with each half of the bean, returning as many seeds as possible to the pudding. discard the pod.
Banana Layer
4 medium size ripe bananas, sliced ¼ inch thick- (select ripe bananas without any spots or green near the stem)
1 and ½ tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
¼ cup sour cream
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Slice the bananas to get about 3-4 cups and immediately toss them in the lemon juice to prevent them from browning. Stir in the sour cream gently.
Layer the coated bananas in the tart crust, and flatten them gently.
Layer the pudding on top and smooth it with a spatula.
Refrigerate the tart, covered with plastic wrap for at least 2 hours, and preferably more, before adding the whipped cream.
Whipped Cream
1 and ½ cups heavy whipping cream, very cold
2 tablespoons sugar
Chill the stainless steel bowl and whipping attachment in the freezer while preparing the tart.
In the chilled bowl with the chilled whisk attachment beat the heavy cream, slowly at first til frothy. Add sugar, and increase speed, beating until cream is sufficiently whipped.
Place whipped cream in a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip and decorate the tart.
YUM YUM!