The soft, creamy quality that makes banana cream pie such a pleasure to eat is precisely what makes it tricky to get right. But this is a pie worth the effort it takes to learn to make it right. Once youve had homemade, from-scratch banana cream pie, theres no going back to Marie Callendars!
Whenever I want help with tough kitchen stuff, I always look to Americas Test Kitchen. And they pulled through again. Here I share their tips for solving the mystery behind perfect banana cream pie – perfect in flavor, perfect in texture, perfect in looks:
First, these seasoned cooks say to avoid banana flavored extract. It tastes artificial. Also, avoid a cookie-crumb crust – it makes the pie too sweet. A pre-baked pie shell is the best to use.
An exquisite banana cream pie is built around a perfect pastry cream, so heres the Test Kitchens explanation of this process: “To make pastry cream, you combine egg yolks, flour or cornstarch, and sugar; whisk in hot half-and-half; stir over low heat until thick; and then add vanilla and a little butter. (The butter melts in the hot pastry cream but re-solidifies and stiffens the cream as it cools.)”
Another thing to know is how to protect the banana slices from turning brown. The Test Kitchen found great success with orange juice. Covering the banana slices in this juice slowed browning and left the mellow, fruity banana flavor alone – something everyone in the Test Kitchen liked.
Then you want to bump up the banana flavor so you dont end up with a vanilla custard pie with banana slices. The pros in the Kitchen discovered the secret: They infused the half-and-half with banana flavor and then strained out the fruit. Two bananas (sliced), were sacrificed to give their pastry cream a banana-y boost, and straining kept the color of the filling appealing. Heres what to do:
“Add half-and-half to sliced bananas that have been sauteed in melted butter. Bring this to a boil, cover the pot, remove from heat and steep the mixture for 40 minutes. Strain the banana-infused half-and-half into egg yolk mixture. Discard bananas.”
So with a creamy yet sliceable banana-boosted pastry cream, mellow and yellow sliced bananas, and a light and stable whipped cream (thanks to confectioners sugar), they solved the mystery behind the perfect banana cream pie. Now the recipe, and our thanks to the amazing Americas Test Kitchen crew:
Filling that you can cut without it oozing all over the plate, a banana flavor thats not artificial, and a texture thats creamy and delectable. THATS the PERFECT banana cream pie!
Coat the banana slices in a wee bit of lemon juice and that’ll stop the browning. Then, once they are in the pudding, the lemon juice and lack of oxygen will keep them looking fresh.
No More Blood Sugar Blues
The soft, creamy quality that makes banana cream pie such a pleasure to eat is precisely what makes it tricky to get right. But this is a pie worth the effort it takes to learn to make it right. Once youve had homemade, from-scratch banana cream pie, theres no going back to Marie Callendars!
Whenever I want help with tough kitchen stuff, I always look to Americas Test Kitchen. And they pulled through again. Here I share their tips for solving the mystery behind perfect banana cream pie – perfect in flavor, perfect in texture, perfect in looks:
First, these seasoned cooks say to avoid banana flavored extract. It tastes artificial. Also, avoid a cookie-crumb crust – it makes the pie too sweet. A pre-baked pie shell is the best to use.
An exquisite banana cream pie is built around a perfect pastry cream, so heres the Test Kitchens explanation of this process: “To make pastry cream, you combine egg yolks, flour or cornstarch, and sugar; whisk in hot half-and-half; stir over low heat until thick; and then add vanilla and a little butter. (The butter melts in the hot pastry cream but re-solidifies and stiffens the cream as it cools.)”
Another thing to know is how to protect the banana slices from turning brown. The Test Kitchen found great success with orange juice. Covering the banana slices in this juice slowed browning and left the mellow, fruity banana flavor alone – something everyone in the Test Kitchen liked.
Then you want to bump up the banana flavor so you dont end up with a vanilla custard pie with banana slices. The pros in the Kitchen discovered the secret: They infused the half-and-half with banana flavor and then strained out the fruit. Two bananas (sliced), were sacrificed to give their pastry cream a banana-y boost, and straining kept the color of the filling appealing. Heres what to do:
“Add half-and-half to sliced bananas that have been sauteed in melted butter. Bring this to a boil, cover the pot, remove from heat and steep the mixture for 40 minutes. Strain the banana-infused half-and-half into egg yolk mixture. Discard bananas.”
So with a creamy yet sliceable banana-boosted pastry cream, mellow and yellow sliced bananas, and a light and stable whipped cream (thanks to confectioners sugar), they solved the mystery behind the perfect banana cream pie. Now the recipe, and our thanks to the amazing Americas Test Kitchen crew:
Filling that you can cut without it oozing all over the plate, a banana flavor thats not artificial, and a texture thats creamy and delectable. THATS the PERFECT banana cream pie!
Recipe formatted with the Cookn Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.
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The Nibble notes that bananas didnt become a large part of the American diet until around the 1880s; However, it didnt take long for Americans to figure out how to turn them into pies. In fact, a book titled Womans Exchange Cook Book of 1901 was the first to make reference to it, sharing, “Fill a pie shell, already baked, with sliced bananas and powdered sugar…Very nice so, but far better to cover the top with whipped cream and serve at once.” Per National Today, the advent of the 1950s birthed the banana cream pie filled with custard we know and love. It was actually a favorite of American service members. Today, its a pie eaten everywhere. The Brits even have their own version called a Banoffee pie made with bananas and toffee.
As Cooking Light explains, oxygen is the great “enemy” of a banana, so you want to wait until the very last minute in preparing your pie to slice the bananas. But there are a couple of ways to help delay that browning that naturally occurs when a peeled banana begins to oxidize and turns brown. When it comes to your banana cream pie, the color is probably less of an issue than what it does to the texture, making the banana slices a little slimy. Serious Eats suggests layering the slices of banana between pastry cream to slow the browning process. At the same time, they do note once you start slicing up the pie, you will see the color change on any bananas you can see.
If youre a fan of the banana cream pie, you may have noticed your bananas turning brown and wondered how to stop this from happening. Weve got just trick to help prevent this.
My Recipes offers another option: Lightly “spritzing” your bananas with a little lemon, orange, or pineapple juice. However, the peril with this method is using too much and having your banana cream pie taste more like a banana-citrus cream pie. To avoid this, you could try Cooking Lights recommendation of using honey thinned with water to “coat” the banana slices. This method will also help hinder the browning and add a sweet flavor to your fruit.
According to the American Pie Council, delicious pie has been a thing since the ancient Egyptians. And while those first pies were of the savory variety, people figured out you could make some beautiful fruity fillings around the 1500s. Rumor has it, the first cherry pie was made for Queen Elizabeth I. Since then, creativity has sparked all types of pie fillings, including the much beloved banana cream pie. But pies made with bananas have really not been around that long.
Kitchen Tip 2 ~ How To Keep a Banana From Turning Brown
FAQ
How long will lemon juice keep bananas from turning brown?
Will pineapple juice keep bananas from turning brown?
How do you keep banana cream pie from turning brown?
The fresh bananas on the top of the pie will turn brown, but one great way to keep them from oxidizing is to dip, brush, or spray them with citric acid, like lemon juice. This blocks the air from reaching them and helps prevent them from browning. How do you keep banana cream pie from getting watery?
What happens to a banana when you put it in the refrigerator?
When putting a banana in the fridge, the skin will become a dark brown color. This happens because the cold of the refrigerator inhibits the hormone that helps bananas to ripen, called ethylene, so the yellow skin turns brown.
How to make a banana pie without browning?
* Treat the bananas with citrus juice: Lemon, orange or pineapple juice will prevent browning. To avoid changing the flavor of the pie, you want to use as little as possible. Brush it lightly on the slices, or place the juice in a spray bottle and spritz them. *Be sure to cover the banana completely with the cream layer.
Why do bananas turn brown in a pie?
Bananas turn brown when they’re exposed to air. The bananas inside the pie won’t turn brown because they are covered by the pudding. The fresh bananas on the top of the pie will turn brown, but one great way to keep them from oxidizing is to dip, brush, or spray them with citric acid, like lemon juice.