Desserts
White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie
The best Banana Cream Pie is a beautiful one, so ours incorporates a white chocolate mousse to get that fluffy, sculpted top that looks — and tastes! — like heaven.
Ingredients
FOR THE CUSTARD FILLING:
FOR THE CRUST:
FOR THE MOUSSE:
How To Choose White Chocolate
Since it has such a subtle flavor, the quality of the white chocolate you select can make or break a dessert. White chocolate doesn’t contain chocolate liquor, so it isn’t really considered a “true chocolate.” But, it does contain cocoa butter, just like any other chocolate.
Avoid brands that replace cocoa butter with a different vegetable fat. They sacrifice flavor for cost and better heat resistance. Baker’s White Chocolate is a good choice because of its quality and availability
Instructions
Whisk sugar, cornstarch and salt together in a large bowl.
Whisk the egg yolks into the dry ingredients and mix in the milk immediately.
Transfer the custard to a double boiler or heavy saucepan and drop in the vanilla bean. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until custard is thick (the consistency of soft pudding).
Remove from stove, take out vanilla bean, and stir in the butter. Reserve ⅓ cup for the mousse and cover both with plastic wrap (place it directly on the custard). Cool for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Blend cookie crumbs and brown sugar, using a pastry blender to get the lumps out. Then stir in melted butter
Press the crumbs evenly into the bottom and sides of your pie plate and bake at 350° for 8 minutes.
Dissolve the gelatin in 2 tablespoons hot water for 5 minutes. Stir several times to make sure that the gelatin is completely dissolved.
Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler, stirring it with a heat resistant rubber spatula. Then mix the gelatin into the melted chocolate.
In a mixing bowl, blend the ⅓ cup reserved custard into the white chocolate and gelatin mixture. Stir these thoroughly. Set aside.
Pour the cold heavy cream into a chilled mixing bowl and whip until stiff. You should be able to make trails and peaks in the firm cream.
Stir a small amount of the whipped cream into the chocolate just to make it workable. Fold in the remaining whipped cream with a rubber spatula. Don’t overmix.
Layer sliced bananas randomly in the pie shell and pour the warm custard over them. Cover with plastic and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours.
Heap the mousse on in a generous layer keeping the center thicker than the edges. Pipe the mousse in a rosette border, if desired.