Caramelized Banana Pie

If you can't say the phrase "Dad is great.  Give us the chocolate cake" without singing it like Bill Cosby - you might have been born in the 70's. 🎶😅 #showingmyage For those of you who aren't familiar with this popular sketch, it was Cosby's hilarious way of justifying his unconventional breakfast choice, arguing that chocolate cake contains healthy ingredients like eggs, milk and flour.  🎂 😅

I can remember my brother and I chanting this phrase to my dad at the breakfast table, on more than one occasion, in hopes of convincing him that we needed  a 7:00 AM sugar rush. 😂  And although I don't ever remember sharing a slice of chocolate cake with my dad for breakfast, it wasn't uncommon for him to eat leftover desserts as his morning meal.  My younger cousins still remember my dad as the guy who would eat a slice of cheesecake or pie for breakfast and much to the dismay of their parents, he always shared with the kids who shared his breakfast table.  

Ironically, I don't ever remember having sugary cereals in the house when I was a child --- we had pie for breakfast, instead. 🥧😂 I'm pretty sure, my mom didn't approve of the dessert for breakfast theory and she made sure that there were lots of healthy options as well.  
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I do a lot of baking but I wouldn't say that pies are my specialty.  It's an art that I haven't yet mastered.  I struggle to get my crust flaky but not crumbly. And my pies usually taste a whole lot better than they look. 😅  

I made this banana cream pie for my dad earlier this year and he's on a lactose free diet so I made some adjustments to the recipe to make it  lactose and dairy free.  You can check out the substitutions that I made to the recipe at the bottom of this post if you want to see the dairy free version.  

Caramelized Banana Pie
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoons salt
4 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup shortening
​1/4 cup water
1 pound ripe bananas
2 eggs + 1 yolk
1/4 cup whole milk
14 ounce can condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 Tablespoons sugar

Whisk together flour and 1/4 t. salt.  Make a well in the center.  

Combine butter, shortening and water.  Simmer until solids are melted.  

Pour liquid into flour well and combine with a silicone spatula. 

Form into a 6 inch disk and cover it with plastic wrap.  

Place another sheet of wrap on the top and roll to a 12" circle. 

Transfer dough to a pie plate and crimp the edges.  

Press foil onto crust and fill with pie weights.  

Bake 20 minutes at 375.  Remove weights and foil, bake 12-15 min. longer.

Slice bananas into 1/4" rounds.  

Fill cooled pie crust with a layer of banana slices. 

Add remaining banana slices, eggs, yolk, milk, condensed milk, vanilla and 1/4 t. salt to blender.  Process 15 seconds. 

Pour mixture into pie crust.  Do not overfill.  Place pie on a baking sheet and reduce oven to 325. 

Bake pie 55-65 minutes or until lightly browned at edges.  Cool.  

Sprinkle surface with sugar.  Caramelize sugar with a butane torch.  

Serve with whipped cream or top with meringue.

To make this a dairy free banana cream pie - you only need to make a few simple modifications to the recipe.  
1.  Replace the butter with shortening in the crust or use a plant based butter.  
2.  Replace the condensed milk with condensed coconut milk (available at Wal Mart)
3.  Replace the milk with a non dairy alternative (soy, almond, coconut, oat)
Both the dairy version and the non dairy versions of the recipe are delicious.  Hope you enjoy. 

​Ciao!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe