Tuesday, April 7, 2009

TWD: Banana Cream Pie

This rather rich month of Tuesdays With Dorie desserts commences with Banana Cream Pie. A while ago Mr. Penpen and I ran a 10k race called the Banana Chase (there actually were people dressed as bananas that the runners were supposed to chase!) and think he used every bad banana pun out there, so I will refrain from using too many in this post.



I didn’t discover the pleasure of baking pies until last year. I was petrified of making pie crust – ridiculous, I know, but after a few tries I took a shine to it and am now happy for any excuse to make pie. I have to admit I cheated and did not use Dorie’s pie dough recipe, though. I’ve had such great success with Cook’s Illustrated's Foolproof Pie Dough (secret ingredient is vodka) that I figured I might as well stick with it. One day I promise to try Dorie’s Good for Almost Every Occasion Pie Dough. Other than the crust, I followed the recipe precisely, with the exception of halving the recipe and adding a pinch of ginger. I vaguely remember having very sweet banana cream pie at some point, and this is a quite different version. It was tasty right after I put it all together, but even better after it was refrigerated for a day. The brown sugar and spices in the custard are reminiscent of pumpkin pie; I think it would be a rather appeeling pie for the winter months.



I gave this recipe an 8 for Deliciousness and a 3 for Effort, giving it an EDR of 2.66. Many thanks to Amy of Sing for Your Supper for selecting this yummy dessert; I had a bunch of fun baking this week. You can find the recipe on Amy’s site, and be sure to check out the TWD blogroll to see what the other bakers thought of it.

17 comments:

Amy of Sing For Your Supper said...

Beautiful!! Thanks for baking with me this week!

-Amy
www.singforyoursupperblog.com

Sabrina said...

I love the bananas on top! Very nice job!

Megan said...

You know, you may be onto something with that crust - because everyone's complaining about shrinking pie crusts.

I took the easy route and just did a graham crust. :)

Teanna DiMicco said...

This would be awesome for the winter with all of those delicious spices! Your pie looks gorgeous!

Kara said...

Yeah, I liked the pie best on the 2nd day too! Yummy stuff!

Heather said...

I'll have to give that crust a try.

Pamela said...

I agree that it would be a great pie for the holiday season. I've heard of that CI pie crust and I really want to give it a try. Nice job!

TeaLady said...

Looks just perfect. Love the red pie plate.

Anonymous said...

i'm still petrified of making pie crusts. i can't stand them! might have to look at this CI version you speak of, maybe the vodka would calm my nerves. :P

Elyse said...

Mmm, this pie turned out great! Glad to see it ranked so highly on the taste scale!

Jennifer said...

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who has suffered from fear of pie crust! Makes me feel way less lame. (Of course, now that I've made it I do feel pretty dumb that I was afraid in the first place!)

Anonymous said...

The crust gave me some trouble, too. I usually use Martha's pie crust recipe and it always works. I'd like to try CI's version, just to compare (a terrible habit!).

Annette said...

Your pie looks perfect! Glad you liked it. I'm going to make it again and try to perfect it.

Anonymous said...

Your pie looks wonderful and delicious. YUM!

Unknown said...

Your pie looks awesome! I really want to try that CI crust recipe, especially since it seems to be so successful for everyone.

Anonymous said...

your pie looks beautiful. i love the ring of bananas around the edge. and your pie plate--love it!

yours is the second blog i've looked at this week that mentions the CI pie crust with vodka. you've definitely got me intrigued...i'm going to have to try this!

Nancy/n.o.e said...

Aren't you glad you got over that fear of pie crust? I love the CI crust; Dorie's is butterier in flavor. Your half recipe looks a lot bigger than my half recipe! Glad you liked it, and it's good to know it's better after a stint in the fridge.
Nancy