Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie Recipe

For Crust:
Butter a 9 inch glass or ceramic pie dish. Stir butter and chocolate in heavy sauce pan over low heat until smooth. Mix in cookie crumbs and walnuts. Press onto bottom of pie dish and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.

For Ganache:
Heat cream and butter in medium saucepan over medium heat until mixture is hot but not boiling; remove from heat. Add chocolate and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Reserve 2 Tbl of ganache in a small bowl at room temperature. Pour remaining ganache into bottom of pie crust. Chill again for 30 min.

Thinly slice 3 bananas. Arrange over chocolate. Whisk pastry cream (recipe follows)until smooth and spread half over bananas. Spread rest of pastry cream over top of bananas.

Drizzle reserved chocolate ganache over pastry cream and quickly draw a toothpick over it to marbleize.

It will set quickly so don't waste time marbalizing pie. Refrigerate until set about 3 hours.

Spoon Vanilla Whipped cream (recipe follows)in mounds around the edges of the pie. Garnish with remaining bananas.

Vanilla Pastry Cream..... No fail

1 1/2 cups half and half
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
2 Tbl. all purpose flour
2 tsp. Vanilla extract

Bring half and half to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Whisk sugar, eggs and yolk and flour to blend. Gradually whisk in hot half and half.

Transfer to saucepan and whisk over medium heat until mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Boil for one minute. Pour into medium bowl. Stir in vanilla.

Press plastic into surface of cream and chill until cold, about 4 hours.

Vanilla Whipped Cream

1 cup whipping cream
1 Tbl. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Beat together until stiff peaks form.

Source: Collen Stephan
posted by Sue Freeman