Tag: banana

This pie is for the kids, and for the kid in all of us, who could do without obsessing about calories, cholesterol or coming out of the water in a bikini. Graham Cracker Crust for a single crust pie

The Filling

1. 1 ½ cups butterscotch sauce
2. 5 large bananas, sliced
3. 2 cups vanilla ice cream, slightly softened
4. 1 cup whipping cream
5. 2 tsp confectioner’s sugar
6. 1 extra banana to slice for the top

Pour 1 cup of the butterscotch sauce over the cooled pie crust

Arrange the sliced bananas on top

Spoon the softened ice cream over half the bananas, and smooth the top

Cover the pie with plastic wrap and freeze for 3 hours

With an electric mixer, beat the cream and confectioner’s sugar until stiff peaks form

Arrange the remaining sliced bananas over the ice cream filling and spoon the whipped cream on top

Use the extra banana slices to garnish the top

Warm the remaining ½ cup of butterscotch sauce in a small saucepan over low heat, and drizzle over the whipped cream and bananas

Banana cream filling takes practice. There’s a point in the milk simmering, sugar-flour-salt-adding part of the recipe where the mixture can turn into banana cream filling, cream of wheat, or a pancake. It’s like a stem cell. Let’s just say rehearsal is everything. Penelope once read that Catherine Zeta-Jones had to make a pumpkin pie for a Thanksgiving party, and made one three times. A rehearsal, a dress rehearsal, and a performance pie. Apparently it came out pretty well. But sometime later she tried actual cooking and set the kitchen on fire. When Michael Douglas came home and found her sitting in the hallway waiting for the smoke to clear, his love wasn’t diminished but his advice was to stay out of the kitchen. Of course, if you look like CZJ you don’t have to cook. Or do anything. But she works really hard so we like her anyway. Meanwhile, as of this printing Penelope still hadn’t gotten the filling right. Having only achieved the cream of wheat stage, she’s considering asking Meisha if she likes pancakes. To be continued…

Banana Cream Pie

This is a great recipe, it just requires more talent than Penelope currently has. As they say in Harry Potter, “The wand chooses the wizard.”

Graham Cracker Pie Crust

Use graham crackers, gingersnaps, biscotti or chocolate wafers (with chocolate wafers use 2 cups of crumbs)

1. 1½ cup crumbs
2. 2 tbs sugar
3. pinch of salt
4. ½ cup unsalted butter, melted

Combine the crumbs, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl and toss together

Add the butter and stir vigorously until blended

Use your fingers to press and pat the mixture over the bottom and sides of a 9 inch pie pan

If you like the crust a little more crispy, preheat the oven to 325° and put the pie crust in for 8 minutes; it has to cool completely before filling

Makes one 9 inch pie shell

The Banana Filling

1. ¼ cup all-purpose flour
2. ⅔ cup sugar
3. ¼ tsp salt
4. 2 cups milk
5. 2 eggs, beaten
6. ¼ cup unsalted butter
7. 1 tsp vanilla extract
8. 2 large, firm ripe bananas
9. 1 tbs fresh lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 325°

Stir together the flour, sugar and salt; set aside

In a heavy saucepan, bring the milk to a simmer

Pour the sugar mixture into the milk in a thin stream, whisking constantly to keep the mixture smooth

Whisk in the eggs

Cook over moderate heat

Keep stirring or whisking constantly until it boils and thickens, about 7-10 minutes

Reduce the heat and boil gently for 3 minutes more; don’t stop stirring

Remove from the heat and add the butter, stirring until smooth

Add the vanilla and mix well

Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, with the wrap against the surface; chill until set

When you’re ready to serve, peel slices of the banana and mix with the lemon juice.Save a few pieces for the top to garnish the top, and fold the rest of the slices into the chilled fruit filling

Spread the mixture into the crust and garnish with the reserved banana pieces

Makes one 9 inch single crust pie

Penelope’s best pie pal entertainment lawyer Ellen Dunn (Heads You Win) was sent to London to visit the set of a soon to be released major motion picture starring a superhero whose name cannot yet be divulged, but who drives a very cool car. After the big chase sequence, Ellen was having lunch with the crew when a dessert buzz started to ramp up. It was Banoffee Pie day. “Excuse me, what kind of pie?” Ellen said. “I’ve never heard of Banoffee Pie.” “Don’t know why not,” a grip told her, “It’s American. It comes from combining banana and toffee.” Not to argue with a grip, and thanks to the diplomatic filter honed in a big career, Ellen did not blurt out, “I don’t think so. First of all, toffee is not something we Americans pull off the shelf first. Nor would we just naturally think to combine it with bananas. No, I’ve never heard of Banoffee Pie and neither probably had Alexander Hamilton or my friend, Penelope.” That not having been said, Ellen took the patriotic route, plus a little undeserved credit for her countrymen, and wrote down the recipe for Banoffee Pie which, considering the exchange rate, was about the only thing she could afford to bring home.

Banoffee Pie

Since the production catering staff only cooked for 100 people at a time, they weren’t too sure of the quantities for a single pie. But being a great pie pal and having access to production assistants, here’s what Ellen was able to piece together:

1. 2 14-oz cans sweetened condensed milk
2. 10 oz graham cracker crumbs (or authentic UK digestive biscuits)
3. 5 oz butter, softened
4. 4 medium bananas
5. 1 cup heavy whipping cream
6. 2 tbs confectioners sugar
7. 1 tsp vanilla
8. grated chocolate - optional

The Pie Crust

Mix the graham cracker crumbs (or English digestive biscuits) with softened butter and press into a 9 inch pie tin

Place the pie crust in refrigerator until filling is ready

The Filling

Place two cans (tins to the Brits) of milk, unopened, in a pan of water for 1½ hours. (In the UK they boil the milk for 3 hours. Minimum.)

The cans must remain unopened and be submerged in the water as it boils. This will “carmelize” the milk

Note from craft services: Wait until the cans cool before opening, otherwise theywill explode

If the water boils down to expose the can, quickly refill it

Allow the milk to cool to room temperature

Slice the bananas and layer in the pie pan

Spoon the carmelized milk over the bananas

Whip the cream with the confectioners sugar and vanilla, and spread on top of the milk

Top with grated chocolate

Still skeptical but ever the pie pal, Ellen sent the recipe right to Penelope. Equally skeptical, though not nearly as diplomatic when not facing down a grip, Penelope wouldn’t say she would never make a Banoffee pie, or wouldn’t like Banoffee pie, or would refuse a piece if she were served one by some nice independent producer at a dinner party in Pacific Palisades; but in deference to her newly painted kitchen ceiling, how do you know when the cans are cool enough not to explode?