Banana Cream Pie (Lucky Peach 2)

Christina Tosi

• 225 g about 2 very ripe bananas
• 235 g (1 C + 1 T) heavy cream
• 55 g (1/4 C) milk
• 100 g (1/2 C) sugar
• 2 g (1/2 t) kosher salt
• 25 g (2 T) cornstarch
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 sheets gelatin (1 t powdered gelatin)
• 25 drops (1/2 t) McCormick yellow food coloring
• 160 g (1 C) confectioners' sugar
• 1 banana, between the mellow-yellow and sweet-spotting stages, peeled and cut into 1/4" slices

If the America's Test Kitchen's version of this is any indicator, Christina Tosi definitely isn't lying about the fact that this isn't the normal way to make a banana cream pie at all.  ATK basically takes a vanilla cream pie and layers sliced bananas in which is admittedly better than making vanilla pudding from a box and starting from there.

In my idol's version of this pie, she lets the bananas get all the way to their ripest points before making the pie itself.  Why shouldn't a banana cream pie borrow from banana bread in terms of the ripeness of their shared primary ingredient?  This should not be so revelatory.

To speed up the process, one can take a banana that looks like the one of the left (or even somewhat less dark) and throw it in the freezer.  Voila!, defrost and you have super-ripe bananas.

Filling mise en place.

Blend the ripe bananas, 75 g (1/3 C) cream [I screw up here and used it all.  I'm a retard.], milk, sugar, salt, cornstarch, and egg yolks.  Dump in a pan and whisk over medium low heat until it resembles glue in color and texture.

Add mixture, gelatin (bloomed in cold water to activate), and as much yellow food coloring as it'll take to satisfy your banana-colored dreams.  Refrigerate until chilled.

Second-day filling mise en place.

Whip remaining cream and confectioners' sugar until medium-soft peaks form.

Add banana mixture very gently until just combined.

FOR THE CRUST

• 1 recipe Chocolate Crumbs
• 8 g (2 t) sugar
• .5 g (a pinch) kosher salt
• 14-28 g (1-2 T) melted butter

Chocolate Crumbs

• 85 g (6 T) unsalted butter
• 105 g (2/3 C) all-purpose flour
• 4 g (1 t) cornstarch
• 65 g (2/3 C) cocoa powder
• 100 g (1/2 C) sugar
• 4 g (1 t) kosher salt

Mise en place.

Spread out onto parchment and ready to be popped into a 300 degree oven.

20 minutes later.

Process cool crumbs until they resemble sand.  Toss with remaining crust ingredients and press into pie tin.

Pour a quarter of the banana cream in and arrange bananas over.

Pour the remaining mixture over the bananas and refrigerate until firm.  I caved and cut into the pie too early, and by the time I was nearing firm slices of pie, my parents were over and I just gave them the rest.  Oh well, no glamorous photos of a slice of this even if there was one lurking in there.
My judgement in terms of taste?  SWOON.
Toxic to eat more than one slice in a day though.