banana peanut butter pie

When mother's day rolled around, it just so happened that the next recipe on the Baked Sunday Mornings recipe schedule was perfect for my mom, who has a banana with peanut butter on it for breakfast almost every single morning. I had fully intended to make if for her, but life got in the way, and I brought morning glory muffins to breakfast instead. (My dad's favorite, kinda weird, the breakfast being for mother's day...)

Although I don't think I ever had banana pie, I still wanted to make this recipe because I skipped a lot  of Baked Sunday Mornings recipes, and felt bad. And it was straightforward enough. Plus it wasn't banana flavored pudding, which sounds gross, but vanilla pudding topped with bananas.

Made the crust one morning, the pudding in the afternoon, and the banana layer and peanut butter topping the next morning.

The crust was easy enough, but dirtied the appliance I most hate washing, the food processor. I was scared that the crumbs wouldn't hold together to make the crust, but of course, they did. The pudding was next, and I must have read the directions wrong, as I was fully prepared to boil the mixture for 5 minutes. I was surprised to see that it took no time at all to make. But with pudding, you really have to go with your gut. And when the pudding is thick enough, it's time to take it off the heat!  I always love being reminded how easy it is to make pudding from scratch.I loved the look of this one, with the vanilla bean seeds throughout.

The peanut butter topping gave be a bit more trouble, as it was a bit too thick to easily accept the folding in of the whipped cream. I'm sure I lost some airiness with my vigorous "folding" but I managed to get it fully incorporated, eventually.

I topped the pie with Godiva chocolate pearls, mainly because in between the time I decided to make the pie and bought chocolate covered peanuts, and when I actually made the pie, we had eaten all the peanuts. But I really like the look of the chocolate pearls! Too bad they are so insanely expensive!

Turns out, it's a pretty yummy pie! I was test tasting a tiny slice before lunch, and gave a bit to the toddler who, when she got around to putting the spoon in her mouth, immediately demanded more, then pointing up at the pie wanting a slice of her own. She had a big piece after lunch too! I liked that I was able to cleanly slice it. (Presentation is important!) The peanut butter topping was much richer than I would have expected, but was quite good. The only thing is those chocolate pearls... did absolutely nothing for this pie! Wish I had left them off completely!

To see how the other Baked Sunday Mornings members thought of this pie, click on through to the blog! Oh, and the recipe is posted here!