I'm going to start by saying that I have never had Banana Cream Pie, so I wasn't stoked on the idea of a Raspberry-Banana Cream Pie. A few years ago I decided that bananas were healthy so I started choking them down in record numbers. Now I can handle them, but if I didn't think they were healthy I would spend the rest of my life without eating another banana. Raspberries...well, I like to pick them. In a perfect world I would be a raspberry farmer, selling my fruit on the side of some old highway, watching the cars go by...
Back to the pie. My wife volunteered to take dinner to a friend, which means I get to make a pie. So, we decided on either a peanut butter pie or a chocolate pie. Come to find out, these friends don't like peanut butter or chocolate. What kind of people don't like peanut butter or chocolate? What is wrong with these people?
Anyway, they like fruity things. Enter Razanna Cream Pie. It was perfect because I sure as hell wasn't planning on eating it (or much of it) and this way I could still technically make it.
Having said that, I stand corrected. This pie changed my life.
Pie Crust
1/2 c butter
1/3 c lard
1/3 cup shortening
1 T sugar
1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 T nonfat dry milk
3 c flour
1/2 c cold water
Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut the lard, butter, and shortening into the flour mix. Set aside. Mix the nonfat dry milk into the water and slowly add to the other mixture until just blended. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Separate into 2-3 chunks. Roll out dough chunks on a floured surface. Using a fork, poke lots of holes into the dough. Lift one half of the dough off of the counter and fold it over your hand. Slide the dough onto a pie pan and unfold. Knock the pan on the counter a few times to help set the dough into the pan. Make sure there are lots of holes in the dough, especially in the corners. Use the palm of your hand to press the dough against the sides of the pie tin, cutting off the excess dough. Bake at 375 for 15-18 minutes. Makes 2-3 shells.
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| See all the holes? I'm not sure why the crust shrinks so much... |
Razanna Cream Pie
4 cups milk, divided
2 cups half-and -half
2 T butter
1 1/4 c sugar, divided
3 egg yolks
1/4 t salt
1/2 c cornstarch
1 1/2 t vanilla
3 bananas
Raspberry jam or preserves (thinned with water)
Berries for garnish
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| Double-boiler |
The recipe states: place 3 cups milk in a double boiler. Add half-and-half and butter. My double boiler holds only 3 cups, so I had to resort to a normal pan which means I had to stir like crazy. Add 3/4 c sugar and cook until butter is melted and milk looks scalded. I don't know what scalded milk is supposed to look like, so I googled it. I found something that told me to turn the heat on to high and leave the room until the smell was terrible and then return and throw the pan away. That didn't sound right, so I just heated it until it was almost boiling.
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| Normal pan |
In a separate bowl, wisk egg yolks and 1/2 c sugar and slowly add to the hot mixture. My neighbor told me to wisk like crazy when adding the yolks or else you may get chunks of cooked eggs in the cream.
Stir constantly. Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring constantly and keeping the mixture at a temp just below boiling.
Mix 1 c milk and cornstarch together and slowly add to the mixture. Do not mix these together before hand or you will discover that the cornstarch sinks to the bottom of the milk and forms a brick. Very unpleasant. Stir like crazy. Cook for another 15-20 minutes.
When the pudding mixture is thick enough (i.e. thick like pudding), remove from heat and add vanilla.
Slice bananas and line the bottom of 2 cooked and completely cooled pie crusts. Pour filling on top of bananas. When I served this pie I saw immediately that the bananas were brown. Maybe you should let the filling cool before pouring it onto the bananas? Who knows.
Cool on a wire rack and then refrigerate for 3-4 hours. Spread raspberry jam or preserves (thin with water until it is a syrup consistency) on top. Top with berries or other garnish. I had blackberries, so threw some on top.
Makes 2 pies
I took a bite of this pie thinking it would probably be ok, but not anything great. It was amazing. I normally don't like to put bananas in smoothies or protein shakes because that's all that I can taste. The banana flavor was subtle and the consistency of the cream was perfect. I honestly wanted to eat the entire pie. It changed my life. I had to share it, so I took a couple of pieces to a neighbor. The cream slide off the bananas while I walked, revealing the ugly brown bananas underneath. I was worried that they wouldn't partake. They ate it. All of it. This pie will go down in history.
Mix dry ingredients. Cut shortening into dry ingredients until crumbly. Beat egg and add to dough along with vinegar. Add water. Refrigerate for 15 minutes and grease two muffin pans. Roll out dough onto a smooth, floured surface. I used a wide mouth jar lid to cut the dough into a circle. Using either your hand or some weird wooden tool you find randomly at the only time you would ever possibly need it, press the dough into the cups of the muffin pans. 
Divide 1/3 cup of the pecans among the muffin cups. Set aside. Stir everything else together unless it is for garnish. I like this recipe because I really don't understand the point of doing weird things like 'folding' and adding eggs one at a time. With this recipe, just throw it all into a bowl and stir. 
