Coconut-Banana Cream Pie

My guest at dinner the other night brought me a big bunch of bananas as a hostess gift. While I adore bananas, I also like them green. There was no way I could finish all of them before they were too ripe. Again, my weird cooking logic decided that extra bananas= pie.

There's no picture because this was the worst-looking crust I have ever made in my life. But, I'm taking it to work, and they don't care about anything except the "free food" part. Suffice it to say, do not use leftover pastry crust dough to make a pie crust.

I took the Bible's banana-cream pie recipe and added the coconut. In the process, I reduced the sugar in the custard from 1/2 C to 1/3 C. Not a big difference, but you do notice the extra sugar in the coconut if you don't reduce it elsewhere. The rest of the recipe is easy and involves about 15 minutes of work time. There's 2+ hours of chilling, then pour it in the crust. Done.

1 pre-baked pie crust or graham cracker crust

1/3 C sugar

1/3 C flour

1/4 tsp salt

2-1/4 C milk

4 egg yolks

2 tsp vanilla

*1/2 C coconut flakes

3 bananas

1. In a medium saucepan, combine flour, sugar, and salt. Add milk and stir until smooth.

2. Over medium heat, bring milk to a low boil, stirring constantly to avoid scorching. It takes about 10 minutes. The milk will thicken to coat the spoon. Remove from heat.

3. Pour about 1/2 C of hot milk into egg yolks and beat together to temper them. Pour mixture back in saucepan and stir to combine. Return to heat and warm until mixture is very thick and mounds when dropped from a spoon. Do not boil. Stir in vanilla and coconut. Cover surface of custard with a sheet of plastic wrap, so it is not exposed to air. Chill in fridge at least 2 hours.

4. Slice bananas thinly and arrange to cover bottom of pie crust. Take any remaining slices and dip them in watered-down lemon juice to preserve color, then set aside for garnish. Pour custard into crust, then garnish with reserved banana slices and more coconut flakes, if desired. Whipped cream also makes a fantastic garnish. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Serves 8 to 10

Difficulty rating  :-0