Banana Cream Pie
Confession: I am not much of a banana fan. Let me clarify. I like bananas in things, I just have a hard time eating them by themselves. You won’t ever see me peal a banana and bite into it. However, I will slice a banana and put them in my cereal or roll them in a crepe. I will dip them in Nutella or fruit dip. I’ll eat a banana muffin or banana bread and most often, I’ll make a smoothie with soy milk, ice, honey and a frozen banana. I also don’t like artificial banana flavor.
So, when I set out to make a banana cream pie, I promised myself that 1 – would like it because the bananas are sliced and 2 – there would be no artificial banana flavor. Bananas have enough flavor on their own, they don’t need help.
I used a vanilla wafer crust, which is perfect to pair with bananas! (You know, there is an entire dessert based on bananas and vanilla wafers.) Also, I didn’t go crazy and make my own pastry cream or custard. You can certainly do that, there are recipes out there for that. If that is what you are looking for, keep going, you aren’t going to find it here (not for this recipe anyway). I used instant vanilla Jello pudding with half milk and half cream to give it some air. It is easy people! Very easy and very delicious. If you are in the mood for bananas, you might want to give it a whirl.
Banana Cream Pie
Light and fluffy cream surround a layer of sliced bananas on top of a vanilla wafer crust.
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 11 oz box of vanilla wafers
- 6 Tbsp butter melted
Filling
- 1 5.1 oz box vanilla instant Jello pudding
- 4 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 2 bananas sliced
Whipped Cream Topping
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3 Tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Crust
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Preheat oven to 350° F. Place cookies in a food processor and blend until they are fine crumbles. Pour into a medium bowl.
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Melt butter and pour into the wafer crumbles. Mix until combined. Pour into a 9 or 10 inch pie pan. Press down with the back of a large spoon along the bottom and edges until flat and even.
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Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Allow to cool in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Filling
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Mix the cream cheese with a hand mixer until smooth. Add the milk and mix until smooth. Add the pudding and cream. Mix on medium speed until thickened.
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Place half of the pudding mixture in the cooled crust. Spread out evenly. Place the sliced bananas in a single layer over the mixture. Try to get them as close as possible. Spread the rest of the pudding mixture over the bananas.
Whipped Cream Topping
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Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix until stiff. Spread over the pudding mixture. Serve immediately or place in refrigerator until ready to serve.
