Banana Cream Pie

Pastry dough

Combine flour and sugar in food processor or mixer. With machine running, slowly add butter, and process or mix until you have a fine meal. Mix together yolks and cream, and slowly add into flour mixture. Process until dough just starts to come together.

Turn dough onto floured work surface; work with the heel of your palm until it comes together flat and smooth. Form the dough into 8 small disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours.

Butter 8 (4-inch) tart pans. (if you only have 4 pans, you can make 4 shells at a time.) Roll the disks out to 1/8 inch thick. Form dough into tart pans. Use a rolling pin to roll over the tops of the pans until the excess dough drops form the sides. Press the dough gently to the sides of pans. You must chill and weigh down the dough. The easiest way is by spraying a coffee filter with cooking spray and filling it with dried beans, then placing it on top of the dough. Chill the shells for at least another 2 hours.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Bake the shells (coffee filter bags and beans still on top) until they become light amber, 15-20 minutes. Remove the filters and let shells cool to room temperature. Carefully remove shells from pans.

Pastry cream

Beat egg yolks and sugar until mixture is pale and forms ribbons when the beaters are lifted from the bowl. Sift in cornstarch and flour, mixing well.

Heat milk in saucepan over medium heat. Split and scrape vanilla bean and place in milk. Once milk comes to a boil, remove bean, then slowly whisk about ¼ of the milk into egg mixture, then whisk rapidly to incorporate and not curdle the eggs.

Return mixture to milk in saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes thick and bubbles, 6-8 minutes. Cover cream with plastic wrap, pressing it flat across the cream's surface so no skin forms. Refrigerate 1 hour, or until chilled.

Place about 1 tablespoon pastry cream in bottom of each shell. In large mixing bowl, fold remaining pastry cream in with ¾ of whipped cream. Gently fold in bananas. Fill each shell just to top. Place large dollop of whipped cream on top to cover.

Suzanne Tracht

Jar

Los Angeles, California

©2012