Do you like banana pudding? What about banana cream pie? Well, this is a delicious combination of the two and it has a wonderful crust made of vanilla wafers. The recipe is not complicated, but it does have several steps so I will break them down in the order that it makes the most sense to do them in.
My mother made this pie for dinner and it was ready when I got there so I don't have the pictures of each step to show you, but it's fairly easy to understand. Here is what you will need for this:
1 12 oz box of Vanilla wafers, divided
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 large bananas, sliced
Vanilla Cream Filling
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
4 egg yolks
2 cups. milk
2 tsp. vanilla
Meringue
4 egg whites
1/2 cup of sugar
Set aside 30 vanilla wafers. Put the rest in a food processor and pulse until coarsely crushed. Stir together crushed vanilla wafers and melted butter. Press this mixture in the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch pie plate.
Bake at 350 degrees until until lightly browned. Remove and cool for at least 30 minutes.
Arrange the banana slices evenly over the crust. Prepare the vanilla filling by mixing the first 5 ingredients (sugar, cornstarch, egg yolks, milk and vanilla) in a pan and whisking over medium heat for 8-9 minutes or until it has thickened to a pudding like consistency.
Spread half of the filling over the bananas. Top with 20 whole vanilla wafers. Spread the remaining filling over the vanilla wafers.
In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until they are foamy adding 1 Tbs. of sugar a time until it is all incorporated. Beat on high until stiff peaks form. Spread over the filling and be sure to seal it to the edges of the pie.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool for 1 hour on the counter. Crush the last 10 vanilla wafers and sprinkle over the top. This will cut and server better if you chill it for 4 hours before serving. However, if you are like me and my family, it probably won't make it that far and we like it best before it's refrigerated. Do which ever you like best!
Banana Puddin' Pie!
