I recently watched Zoë Bakes make a banana cream pie on her Instagram stories. All of her stories are mesmerizing because she demonstrates how to make the dessert on camera. When I watched her make this banana cream pie, I knew I had to try it myself. (You can watch her make it too–she’s saved the story in her highlight videos on instagram). She mentioned that she was bringing it to a summer party and imagined it wouldn’t get touched with all the tempting fresh berry tarts and galettes. When she arrived, banana cream pie in hand, one of the guests even started cheering. The nostalgic nature of this classic dessert really gets people excited.
I’d never had banana cream pie before. I love banana breads and cakes , even Banana Oatmeal Pancakes and Banana Graham Waffles. But personally, I’m not a whipped cream eater (I know, I know. I don’t advertise this often). So for me, combining whipped cream with bananas sort of ruined everything. However, I had multiple trust-worthy people try this dessert to give me feedback (since I just can’t do whipped cream with banana). My best friend, my sister, my brother-in-law, my husband, and my Mom ALL loved it. And cleaned their plates. The best part they said was discovering the ever so subtle addition of chocolate that gets painted on the interior of the graham cracker crust.
I SO understand the draw of this dessert. And I’m excited to re-visit this recipe in a way that I will love. I’m going to omit the whipped cream (again, I know, it’s a crime!) I’m going to make the creamy vanilla custard and just not fold in any whipped cream. Then I’ll layer the sliced bananas on top as a finish. Perhaps scatter a few chocolate curls on there as well. Stay tuned! And until then, enjoy this beautiful pie.
A Bee Bakes 