Latesgiving

I know that I’m not American but I’ve always loved their holiday of thanksgiving and with friends over there I always felt a connection to the holiday and last year me and my sister were able to celebrate it in New York which was epic and I’m not just talking about the banana cream pie. 

This year however we were not able to go join in the festivities and we were stuck home bound so we decided to recreate our own thanksgiving and if banana cream pie being my favourite I thought how hard can it be to make my own, turns out not too difficult just a little harder when using an American recipe book and trying to figure out what is half and half (seriously guys what is it). But instead of giving up I persevered and let me tell you it’s the best thing I’ve ever made! So I thought why not share it with you guys (with and without American substitutes).

Ingredients: 

The Base

\   10 graham crackers (or digestive biscuits) 

\   ¼ cup of sugar (I didn’t use) 

\   ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon – optional 

\   6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter – melted 

Filling

\   5 ripe bananas 

\   2 ½ cups of half and half (I used half whole milk half cream) 

\   ½ cup of sugar 

\   6 large egg yolks 

\   ¼ teaspoon fine salt 

\   3 tablespoons cornstarch (corn flour) 

\   2 tablespoons butter 

\   1 ½ teaspoons vanilla 

\   1 table spoon fresh lemon juice 

Topping 

\   Whipping cream 

 Recipe:

Preheat the oven to 375cf – 180c is what I used my oven does not go that high.

In a food processor, process the graham crackers, sugar and cinnamon to crumbs. Transfer to a bowl; add melted butter and strip until evenly coated and hold together. Press crumbs into bottom and sides of 9-inch pie dish and bake until dry and set. Leave to cool.

Peel and slice two bananas into rounds and place in a saucepan with the half and half. Bring to a boil for 1 minute and remove from heat, cool for 30 minutes, then cover over and chill letting the mixture steep for 1 hour + up to 24 (the longer the steep the more the banana flavor comes through). Strain into a bowl and discard bananas. 

In a saucepan, off heat, whisk together the sugar, egg yolks, and salt until smooth. Then whisk in the cornstarch. Add the half and half whisking briskly. Cook over medium heat whisking continuously until thickened and bubbling but not set (kind of like custard). Remove from the heat and whisk in butter and vanilla until smooth. Leave to cool until warm. 

Slice the remaining three bananas into rounds and toss with the lemon juice (must do otherwise they’ll go brown). Pour half of the mixture into the crust then arrange two thirds of the banana on top, top with the remaining custard and add the rest of the banana.  Then chill and set for 4-5 hours. When ready to serve top with whipped cream. 

“Recipe from The Sprinkles Cookbook (my favourite Cupcakery in LA … minus my two best friends of course). “