Classic Banana Cream Pie Recipe

Think fast: What does a banana cream pie taste like!? You can probably conjure an idea of its flavor: a sweet, creamy, and of course banana-heavy tastiness. But when's the last time you've actually ever had a banana cream pie? It's one of those desserts so well known to our culture, yet rarely actually eaten. But once you try this recipe from Miram Hahn of Youcare-Selfcare, you're never again going to wonder exactly what a banana cream pie tastes like, but rather why you waited so long to actually make one.

This banana cream pie is a classic indeed, like the name says — it would have tasted just right to those from decades long gone following a Sunday supper. But this exact pie recipe is sure to please folks many years and many generations from now. After all, who can so no to an all-butter, from-scratch pie crust? According to Hahn, "this is a special occasion pie. It goes great with any meal — but is a special addition to a holiday meal."

Got one of those coming up? Birthday? Anniversary? Day ending in Y? Then it's a good time to have found this recipe.

It takes a decent number of ingredients to make this pie, but all of them are easy to find. You'll need all-purpose flour, a good amount of sugar, some salt, a decent portion of unsalted butter, some ice water, eggs, cornstarch, milk, vanilla extract, whipped cream or whipped topping, and some ground cinnamon (both for use in the pie and more for topping it). Oh, and bananas.

"The secret ingredient here is the cinnamon. It adds a spicy, kind of woody taste that really enhances the cream filling," Hahn says.

"Okay so yes, this one does take some time and some experience in the kitchen," Hahn admits, adding, "When you make the pie crust from scratch, it is a really nice upgrade from buying a pre-made frozen crust. It is super buttery and delicious! The crust is actually easy, as long as you have a food processor to do the heavy lifting. Rolling it out to fit in the pie plate can be a little tricky, but a little un-evenness around the edges lets everyone know it is homemade, so no need to fret over that."

Preheat the oven to 425 F, and as it heats up, add the flour, 4 tablespoons sugar, and some salt to a food processor. Combine these in the food processor, then add 1 cup of the butter (cubed and chilled) and the ice water. Pulse until the mixture forms a dough ball.

Next, take the dough out of the food processor and form it into a ball, then wrap that in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes. Once it's thoroughly chilled, flour a large board and roll out the dough big enough to fit into your pie pan and place it in. Poke the pie crust several times with a fork — "this helps it release steam while it is cooking," Hahn explains. Then cut a round piece of parchment paper to fit in the pie tin and up its sides. Fill the concavity of the paper with some foil and press down into the center. This will hold the crust down so it doesn't puff out during cooking.

The crust is finally ready! To bake, that is. Blind-bake the crust (with the parchment paper and foil and all) for 15 minutes. Then take it out of the oven, remove the parchment and foil, and brush the par-baked crust with a beaten egg. Next, slide some foil underneath the pie plate and bring it over the edges of the pie to protect its edges from browning too much.

Reduce the oven temperature to 375 F and bake the crust for 25 to 30 minutes more, or until the crust looks golden.

For the filling, first beat 2 eggs and 2 extra egg whites; set these aside. Then add some more sugar, cornstarch, salt, and milk to a medium pot. Cook these on medium-high heat, whisking continuously, for 5 minutes. Then lower the heat to medium and cook for 5 to 10 more minutes, until the mixture is thickened.

Remove a cup of the milk mixture and add it to the eggs while whisking, then add this mixture to the pot. "This helps dilute the eggs so they don't start cooking in the full batch of the hot liquid," Hahn explains. No one wants scrambled eggs in their custard, after all.

Transfer the filling to a bowl and add the vanilla, cinnamon, and the rest of the butter. Stir until the butter is melted. Finally, place some plastic wrap on the surface of the mixture in the bowl and let it sit in the fridge for an hour. (If you just cover the bowl and not the custard itself, the custard will develop a "skin." Let's avoid that.)

Now pour a thin layer of the custard into the crust, followed by a layer of sliced bananas, and then the rest of the custard. Cover and chill the pie in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours, or overnight.

Right before serving the pie, add a layer of whipped topping on top of the pie and add some freshly sliced bananas. Sprinkle it with additional cinnamon if desired. And enjoy!

As for serving, Hahn does offer up some words of advice on making the pie look as fresh as possible: "You want to add the bananas to the top right before serving. If you don't finish the pie during the first serving, you can just remove the bananas on the part of the pie that is left and add fresh ones before serving again. It will be good for up to 5 days if you just refresh the topping. You can also add crushed graham cracker crumbs to the top if you need to make the whipped topping look more presentable."