Family Chefmate: Banana Cream Pie with Black Bottom Crust

I hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving. I was in Florida for the holiday's and did not have a chance to blog. I did make some delicious gingerbread cookies with all the kids, grandma and cousins and will be blogging about that this week.

Banana Cream Pie with Black Bottom Crust is a family favorite. Most kids love pudding, whip cream and bananas. This recipe has all these savory ingredients delivered in a chocolate covered crust. Since the crust is coated in chocolate the crust stays nice and crisp and will not get soggy. The original recipe comes from the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook but I changed the recipe so it is lower in fat by using none fat milk instead of whole milk and lowered the sugar amount from 2/3 cup to a 1/2 cup.

1 store bought crust in a metal tin
1 large egg plus 4 egg yolks
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
5 tablespoons cornstarch
3 cups none fat milk
1/4 teaspoon iodized salt
2 ounces of dark chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 bananas sliced

Preheat oven: 400
Cut out a piece of parchment paper that will cover the crust and fill the parchment paper with 2 cups of dry beans. Bake the crust at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove the parchment paper and beans and cook the crust for an additional 8 minutes or until the crust is golden brown on all sides. Allow the crust to cool.

Whisk the egg yolks together in a bowl and set aside. In a saucepan place the milk, cornstarch, salt and sugar and whisk together on medium high heat. Whisk the milk liquid until it simmers. Remove the pan from the heat. Take one cup of the hot milk and whisk it into the egg yolk mixture (continue whisking or you will have scrabbled eggs). Then take the egg yolk mixture and slowly add it back to the hot milk saucepan while whisking at all times. Bring the mixture back to a simmer about 2 -3 minutes or until the custard has thickened. Pour the custard into a small bowl. Then place the bowl of custard into a ice bath. (An ice bath is a bowl of ice water). This will bring the temperature of the custard down quickly. Stir the custard to release the heat and allow the custard to cool in the ice bath for 10 minutes. Then place the custard in the refrigerator wrapped in plastic wrap to cool.

Melt the dark chocolate chips in a microwaveable bowl for 45 seconds. Stir the chocolate chips with a spoon and microwave again for 45 more seconds. Remove the bowl and stir the chocolate chips again. If the chips are not yet melted put the bowl back in the microwave for 30 more seconds and stir. Brush the melted chocolate onto the pie crust with a pastry brush.

Whip the 1 cup of whipping cream one high until it is almost whipped then add the 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Continue to whip the cream on high until you have stiff peaks.

Assembling the pie: Take the painted chocolate pie crust out and place it on the counter. Place the sliced banana on top of the crust then add the custard and spread around the pie evenly. Add the whip cream on top of the custard. Slice and eat the pie immediately or refrigerate the pie for later.

Painting the Crust with Melted Chocolate