Mama Q’s TOP SECRET Banana Cream Pie Recipe

WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ HAS BEEN A CLOSELY GUARDED KRAMER FAMILY SECRET FOR YEARS AND I HAVE JUST GOTTEN PERMISSION TO OPEN THE TOP SECRET FILE AND SHARE IT ON THIS BLOG.

Guys….. this pie is alarmingly good. It tastes like someone sourced the finest ingredients from a milk maiden in France then flew to South America to get fresh bananas and then spent 4 years in pastry school slaving over the perfect pie recipe. But I’m going to tell you the secret……………..

You don’t have to do any of those things.

Mama Q (aka Dusty’s mother) has been making this pie for years. This pie has been featured at birthday parties, holidays, pretty much any occasion where people need pie (which clearly is like any occasion). And I’m SHOCKED, completely dumbfounded, that she has allowed me to share this recipe for all eyes to see.

When I told Dusty I was going to do a blog post on the pie, he literally screamed out loud, “DON’T!!!” but HAHA, I got permission from the Empress of Pie herself!

This pie is simple. You can make it look fancy if you really want – add a garnish, pipe the whipped cream – but I like to keep it lookin’ homemade. The pie will speak for itself. Despite contrary belief, this pie isn’t hiding anything. It has no secrets anymore. It’s not running for president – it doesn’t have any skeletons in its closet. It just a classic, creamy, absolutely delicious banana cream pie.

Onward to the recipe!

Ingredients:

CRUST:

• 1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup sugar

FILLING:

• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 small boxes vanilla instant pudding mix
• 1 pint half & half
• 1/2 pint sour cream

TOPPING:

• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 1 tbsp sugar

It feels too wrong, but here it goes…

Start with the crust. Preheat your oven to 375. I buy the box of graham cracker crumbs you can find in the baking aisle. Make it exactly according to the box.
Pour 1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs into a bowl, mix in the 1/4 cup sugar and 1/3 cup melted butter. Stir to combine it all. Can we eat it yet?? NO. Wait. Please.

Pour the buttery crumbs into your pie dish. Lightly press the crumbs down with a spatula or clean hands. As you press in the middle of the pie the crumbs will spread out and creep up the walls of your pie dish. That’s good, you want the crust to be hugging the banana filling ever so gently.

Bake the crust in your preheated oven for about 7 mins. Don’t overdo it. You want it to be browning just slightly. While the crust is baking slice your bananas. I used 2 large bananas to cover up the bottom of the crust. You can use more or less if you prefer.

After the 7 minutes, remove the crust from the oven and let it sit for a few mins so it’s not scorching hot. You can pop it in the fridge if you have room (I didn’t) or just leave it on the counter. While you are waiting for the crust to cool a bit you can start up the pudding filling.

Add the 2 small boxes of vanilla pudding mix to a bowl and whisk in 1 pint of half & half. Then, fold in 1/2 pint of sour cream.

Layer the sliced bananas in the bottom of the cooled crust. You want a generous layer, try to overlap the bananas and make sure there will be enough banana in each bite! This is a great responsibility!

Then, add the pudding mixture on top of the banana layer. Spread it out with a spatula. Put the pie in the fridge to further cool while we move on to the next step! (My favorite step…. whipped cream)

While the pie continues to chill, add the pint of heavy whipping cream to your stand mixer bowl (or regular bowl if you are using hand mixers). Begin the mixer on a slow speed so it isn’t spraying out everywhere (or ignore this tip if you want a whipping cream shower, no judgment).

As the cream thickens begin to increase the speed until it is whipping fairly quick. Add the 1 tbsp sugar in before the cream is totally done. My cream was done in 2.5 minutes.

Whipped cream is my favorite food. MMMMMM. And homemade whipped cream is so incredibly easy. Don’t buy canned whipped cream. Please don’t. And if you do, just don’t tell me about it.

Ok SO now we can top the pie! Get your wonderful, yet bald, pie out of the fridge. Dump the whipped cream on top and spread it around on top of the pudding layer.

Allow the pie to chill for a minimum of 2 hours. You don’t wanna be serving up slightly warm banana pie to anyone- that’s just nasty. I made mine in the morning around 8am and will be bringing it to a BBQ around noon. That should give it enough time to firm up and be nice and cold!

See? This pie is easy. There’s no complicated custard to make. No messing around with eggs or a special hand made pie crust. Don’t tell anyone how easy it is. That’s the fun part. You can pretend to be Martha Stewart while everyone is devouring your pie. Savor the moment.

Happy 4th of July everyone!