Banana Cream Pie "Bake Off"

Years ago while visiting Rob at school he made me a banana cream pie. Apparently it was a pie he had made many times. But that was 6 Christmases ago and he hasn't made it for me since. I found another recipe online and thought we could give it a go. Shortly after finishing this pie we decided that Rob should also make his version so we could do a side by side comparison of the two.

The pie that I made was very quick and simple. The ingredients are similar to the one Rob made and yet the texture and taste was quite different. I like the taste of this pie. The texture...well that may be my fault. I think my milk was still a bit too warm and I didn't properly temper my eggs. Also we don't have a super fine strainer to run it through. Even with those two things working against this pie it was still tasty and I ate my entire slice without a word.

There truly is no way for me to photograph this pie and make it look amazing. I'm just not that great of a photographer and honestly, this pie doesn't look like it came from a trendy bakery. It's homemade and it shows. Thankfully the taste makes up for it's lack of picture perfection. For someone who isn't a huge banana eater I did enjoy this pie. Next time the one change I would make is adding more bananas to it. Now for the second pie...

Rob's pie already smelled sweet just after he pulled his custard off the heat. I was excited to try it. His is much closer to the kind of pie I wanted. It was sweet and smooth and delicious! I could tell just by looking at his filling that it was going to be tasty. It's much lighter in color and has a lighter texture to it. Just yummy! It was his first time ever piping frosting so that was fun! Rob found his recipe back in the day on about.com and enjoyed it enough to make it his go to banana cream pie recipe. I'm glad he did.

However there wasn't truly a clear winner for me as they both had some great qualities. The pie I made was a bit more dense and had much more banana flavor. Rob's was smooth and sweet with a more subtle banana taste. I am still searching for that perfect banana cream pie recipe but these two will be keepers for now. Try them out and let me know what you think.

Banana Cream Pie:
site unknown

2 cups whole milk
6 egg yolks
1/3 cup flour, sifted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp cold butter, cut into pieces
2 ripe bananas, still firm, sliced thinly
1 pie crust

In a small saucepan bring milk to a boil. In a larger sauce pan whisk together the egg yolks, flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add 1/4 cup of milk to the egg mixture while whisking constantly to temper the eggs. Add remaining milk and heat over medium high heat, whisking constantly. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Let sit for 5 minutes. Add butter, one piece at a time, and stir until melted before adding another piece. Strain custard through a strainer into a bowl. Cover bowl with plastic making sure the plastic wrap is touching the custard to prevent a film from forming. Keep in the fridge until cooled. Spoon a small amount of custard into pie crust and then layer with thinly sliced bananas. Add remaining custard and smooth.

Whipped Topping:

1 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp sour cream

Beat heavy cream until thickened. Add powdered sugar and vanilla, beat until it holds stiff peaks. Fold in the sour cream. Top pie with whipped cream.

Banana Cream Pie:
from about.com
1 cup whole milk
4 egg yolks
1 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons flour
3 tbsp butter, cut into pieces
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups heavy cream, divided
2 bananas, thinly sliced
1 pie crust

In a heavy saucepan, bring milk to the boiling point.

Place egg yolks in mixing bowl and beat on medium speed of electric mixer, gradually adding sugar. Beat for 2 minutes, until mixture is thick and lemon-colored. Beat in flour. With mixer on low speed, gradually add the hot milk.

Transfer mixture to heavy saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly. Let mixture come to a boil and boil for about 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and continue to beat until mixture is smooth. Beat in butter a little at a time; then blend in cinnamon. Stir in vanilla extract; let mixture cool.

Beat 1 cup of the cream until firm but not stiff. Mix about 1/2 cup of the whipped cream into the egg mixture to lighten it. Fold remaining whipped cream into egg mixture then fold in sliced bananas.

Transfer filling to the pastry shell. Whip remaining cream and spoon or pipe onto the pie. Refrigerate until serving time.