Another year has passed and Kye is celebrating a birthday. Where did that year go? We survived another winter, a lovely spring and now a brutally hot summer. The weeds are thriving the rabbits are in abundance and the gnats are going to rule the world!

Now that the children are in their 30s and late 20s I still make them a meal of their choice on their birthdays. I really don’t know if they care one way or the other, but, I care. For one thing, it “forces” them to come over and stay long enough to share a meal with the family, which I love. Don’t get me wrong the kids are super at spending time with Paul and me, but, it is so much fun to have everyone sitting around the table and talking and laughing and just being together as a family. So I “force” them to pick a meal and a dessert and then I “force” them to come over and share it with the entire family.  Since Robin’s birthday is several weeks away, I am already bugging her to pick her meal and dessert.

Kye settled on tacos for his meal and a peanut butter banana cream pie. Kye’s pie was to die for. I am afraid that I sort of pushed him in this direction. Yet, again, I was watching the default channel when Bobby Flay had a throwdown with banana cream pie. And as an aside, isn’t he a bit old to be called Bobby? Shouldn’t he be Bob? Bob Flay. Robert Flay? Bert Flay?

I was mentioning to Kye how good this pie looked and that perhaps this is what he should have for his birthday dessert. I don’t think he had a choice in the matter after that. “Hey, Kye, don’t you think this would be good? “Kye, have you decided what to have, you know the banana cream pie sounds delicious.” “Kye, don’t you think that banana cream pie with a peanut butter topping sounds fantastic?” “Kye, you like peanut butter right? “Kye don’t you just love bananas?” Imagine my shock when he picked banana cream pie with peanut butter topping!!!! Of course, being a mother, I had to add: “Are you sure you want this?”

As usual, the recipe wasn’t on that gawd awful Food TV channel website, my nomination for “The worst website that shouldn’t be bad” award. So I found one very similar on Epicurious.com.

The Recipe:

Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie adapted from “Epicurious.com”

Vanilla wafer crust:

6 ounces vanilla wafer cookies

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

2 tablespoons sugar

Vanilla pudding filling:

1/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup whole milk

2 large egg yolks

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

4 firm but ripe bananas, peeled, divided

3 tablespoons orange juice, divided

Peanut butter layer:

3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter (do not use old-fashioned or freshly ground)

2/3 cup chilled heavy whipping cream

For vanilla wafer crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine all ingredients in processor; blend until mixture resembles moist crumbs, about 1 minute. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish and press mixture onto bottom and up sides (not rim) of dish. Bake crust until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Remove from oven; press crust with back of spoon if puffed. Cool crust completely.

For vanilla pudding filling:
Whisk sugar, cornstarch, and salt in heavy medium saucepan until no lumps remain. Gradually whisk in cream, then milk. Add yolks and scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; whisk to blend. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until pudding thickens and boils, about 5 minutes. Add butter and stir until melted. Spread warm pudding in cooled crust. Chill until filling is cool, about 1 hour.

Thinly slice remaining banana on diagonal. Toss with remaining 1 tablespoon orange juice, then pat dry with paper towels. Arrange banana slices around top edge of pie.

Final Thoughts:

Well, well, well. Thanks Kye for the wonderful idea of having banana pie for your birthday. Where ever do you come up with such wonderful ideas???

Now to be truthful, I don’t know why this pie caught my eye. While I am a lover of pie, my favorites have always been a fruit pie. I can’t say I would ever choose to have a cream type of pie. But, this was marvelous. Absolutely superb. It was not overly sweet and I liked that. I think with all the components of this pie it could end up being cloyingly sweet and I don’t care for super sweet things. That is unless you have something salty to go with it.

Another reason I am shocked I wanted to make this so much was because it is a banana pie. I am a purist when it comes to bananas. I like them plain. Period. Well, let me rephrase that. I like my bananas plain and in banana bread. Period. I would never chose a banana shake or a banana muffin or banana pudding ever. I would rather have a barely ripe plain old banana.

Speaking of the ripeness of bananas, I like my bananas to have green tips on them. Paul likes his bananas when the skin starts to turn brown. Yuck. Too soft. I like my bananas firm, not hard, but, firm. Which usually works out great because once there are brown spots on the skins, it is time to use them in banana bread.

Okay, back to the recipe. I think when I make this again, I am going to caramelize the bananas. I will put a bit of butter and a handful of brown sugar in a saute pan and cook the bananas until they are soft and yummy. I know it is at odds with me not liking soft bananas, but, this is with BUTTER and brown sugar. A total different animal.

I think caramelizing the bananas would prevent the one thing I didn’t like about this pie. This morning when I woke and looked at the leftover piece of pie in the fridge, it wasn’t too appealing because the bananas turned brown. Yes, even with the use of orange juice to prevent browning. If the bananas were caramelized it would prevent that unappealing sight. Or, the key is to serve all the pieces when first cut. You know, so if I make a pie and no one is around, I would have to eat the entire thing. Like that.

Aside from the browning of the nanas the next day, I would definitely give this recipe a try. It really is that good. Enjoy!