Tammy's Recipes

Recipes
Submitted by Andrea1548
I don't know what recipe you used, but I've always used Betty Crocker's recipe for banana cream pie...turned out perfectly, once I realized that using frozen bananas in the pie is a horrible idea! The pudding turned into a puddle - the frozen 'nanas added WAY too much water. I can send the recipe along to you if Joshua wants, but it is basically a pie crust, lined with a bit of brown sugar, bananas, and topped with vanilla pudding with whipped cream on top.

Honestly though? I just buy one when I want banana cream pie - I'm a horrible pastry crust maker. ;)

Couple of questions?
Submitted by Jules
Did you sprinkle the bananas w/lemon juice? Did you over whip the whipped cream? Did you fold in the whipped cream?

Bananas do NOT like to get cold. And it would be best to have used greenish bananas, to ensure the freshness of the bananas.

Banana Cream Disaster
Submitted by Joshua
@ Andrea: I like banana cream pie, so I would be willing to give making one another whirl! :)

@ Jules: To answer your questions:

Did you sprinkle the bananas w/lemon juice?

Yep, as Tammy noted I followed the linked recipe exactly. Also, the bananas weren't over ripe either--we specifically bought bananas for this project. They were slightly green at the stem and lacked any spots or bruising.

Did you over whip the whipped cream?

Nope, the recipe calls for "firm but not stiff" whipped cream and thats exactly I how prepared it.

Did you fold in the whipped cream?

No and Yes--I followed the recipe instructions in exacting detail. The recipe states to mix in 1/2 cup of the 'firm' whipped cream and then to fold in the remaining 'firm' whipped cream.

The pudding was exceedingly thick. So much so that I don't think it would have been very edible by itself when cooled. Unfortunately the addition of the cream thinned the pudding too much and we were left with banana cream soup in a pastry. The cinnamon was a poor addition to the recipe IMO. The pudding had an excellent bright yellow color, and the cinnamon really obscured the clean banana-eque color the pudding had--not to mention it gave the filling a biting flavor. I was persueing a flavor with more of an emphasis on the "bananas and cream".

I should probably stick with cheesecakes! But I am sure I won't ;)

LOL
Submitted by Jules
Thanks for replying Joshua!

I was just trying to see if maybe you deviated any. I don't know if you are one to follow a recipe to a "T" or eye ball it lol.

Not sure how you can prevent the bananas from going blac, that's odd! I could see if you didn't do the lemon juice, but you did!

Only other thing I thought you could try is after you make it, to freeze it for an hour or two. Altho it does call for refrigerating it, but maybe it might help to freeze it.

you could also cut back on the whipped cream, when added to the "pudding" mixture.

Send it my way!
Submitted by SarahMay
I'll eat it anyway! Banana cream pie is my favorite...

Although the cinnamon does sound strange. My husband once made me a banana cream pie that called for nutmeg, and the flavor just didn't fit.

Keep trying... I'm counting on you to master banana cream pie and post the ultimate recipe for me! : )

Review the Recipe on About.com
Submitted by Anonymous
I looked at the recipe on About.com and no one has reviewed it yet. Maybe you should make some time to do that so another banana cream lover doesn't get disappointed. :-')

I know I get frustrated when I use recipes online that simply don't work.

Submitted by foxxyroxie
My mom was 'the bomb' pie maker.... everyone requested her pies. But she did cheat with her cream pies... she always used Jell-O cooked pudding and pie filling. Maybe try using a recipe for cooked vanilla pudding.

I don't recall her ever using lemon juice to prevent the bananas from being black though. I guess it never lasted around the house long enough for the bananas to turn black...lol. She would bake the crust, layer the sliced bananas in the crust and pour the pudding over it. It was always topped with whipped topping (never meringue).

Maybe I'm alone here. . .
Submitted by simplbrandy
but the cinnamon sounds good to me! Of course, I'd eat cinnamon on just about anything. :-D Mail me a piece, too!

I've had occasional run-ins with a runny outcome from mixing whipped cream and pudding. It made the whole trifle I made ooze all over. I'd love to know what causes this, since your situation sounds similar.

Submitted by Anonymous
I'd been looking at recipes for Banana Cream Pie recently too. . . weird thing to think about at Christmas time, really! Cinnamon, brown sugar and bananas sounds good to me! I haven't tried any recipes yet (not in the cooking mode lately), but here were a few I was looking at that might be worth checking out:

Cooking Light- Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie which got five stars out of five

A "plain" Banana Cream Pie which got four out of five stars

Hallmark Magazine's website- another "plain" Banana Cream Pie topped with banana slices when ready to serve

'd personally like to know if any of these works, although it'll be awhile before I attempt it in the kitchen!

Emily

Whipping cream
Submitted by Martha Artyomenko

Whipping cream tends to break things down, I am not exactly sure why, but it does.
When I have made a banana cream pie, I never mixed the whipped cream into the pudding. You baked the pie shell, sliced bananas to fill the crust and made your pudding and poured it over it. Then you topped it with whipped cream.
I do not like bananas so did not make this much though.

So frustrating when that happens
Submitted by saremca

after going to all of the work to make a pie to have it not turn out is disappointing.

Pecan pie does that to me more often than any other, but I have turned out soupy cream pies before too and never have figured out why. My grandma said it was because I used cornstarch and that if you cook cornstarch for too long after it thickens initially it can "break" and make your pie runny after it cools, so I switched to using her recipe with flour. But I noticed that your recipe used flour for thickening so that can't be it.

Seems like an unsolved pie mystery. My usual banana cream pie recipe is the same as this one: banana cream pie and I haven't had it turn out soupy yet.

Submitted by Anonymous
I sprinkle cinn/sugar on banana slices for one of my sons (guarantees he'll eat them :D) - so cinnamon sounds good in the recipe. And I LOVE cold bananas (never heard my 'naners complain :)) - but wonder if it somehow messes with the set up, somehow...

New to your blog - followed over from someone who linked your spinach tortillas (hope that was you, and sorry I don't recall who linked) - I blame it on pregnancy brain (due in mid-march!)

try pastry cream
Submitted by Anonymous
I had success making a banana cream pie using a recipe for pastry cream in place of the pudding. It turned out very well. I think the recipe I used was one of the very highly rated ones on Allrecipes.com.

Oh I love how you post your disasters. : ) I have enjoyed reading through them this afternoon and don't feel so "alone" anymore in my own kitchen disasters.

Thank you for your humility. It is refreshing and much appreciated. :)

Have a fun weekend, Michelle