Old Fashioned Banana Cream Pie

Make old fashioned Banana Cream Pie just like Grandma did – with homemade creamy custard, a simple crust, and real whipped cream.

Ingredients and Substitutions

• all-purpose flour
• shortening – this old word basically just means ‘solid fat’. Butter makes the best, least fall-apart-when-cut crust, but lard really was traditional, and my Mom swears by Crisco vegetable shortening, which is what I’m using in these pictures. You’ll have to decide which one you like best.
• ice-cold water – it really does need to be very cold.
• whole milk – don’t skimp on the milk fat
• heavy cream – this is really important for the pie filling
• eggs – both white and brown eggs taste the same. Use ‘large’ eggs.
• sugar – just the white granulated sugar.
• cornstarch
• unflavored gelatin
• unsalted butter
• vanilla extract
• ripe bananas, sliced
• Whipped cream

Show of hands if you grew up in the era of bags, boxes, and cans?

You know what I mean:

• pudding came in a little box that just needed milk and a whisk,
• pie crust came pre-made and shelf-stable, and
• whipped cream made this very distinct sound as you pressed the nozzle and sprayed it directly into your mouth?

That was a great way to get your mom wild mad at you, too!

And while I know that all of these things are still available and still used, weren’t they The Greatest Thing in the ’80s?

It’s Not the 80s – We Can Ditch the Mix

Okay, my mom wasn’t 100% enamored with packaged goods – she’s a really good scratch cook and I could survive on her homemade bread – but I did think that vanilla pudding came from a mix.

And whipped cream – if it wasn’t in the spray can, it was frozen.

And that meant that banana cream pie started with a pre-made crust and instant pudding and ended with spray can whipped topping. You could guarantee at least one of those at every summertime church picnic.

The 80s were fun. Jello molds were still a thing, too, and yogurt was a rare treat!

In 1991, when I moved away from home, I began my lifelong fascination with old cookbooks. Not 1950s-old but 1850s-old.

And I came across a recipe for making cornstarch pudding. It referenced “top milk” and I was completely intrigued.

Turns out that top milk is cream skimmed from the top of unpasteurized milk, and homemade pudding made with cream is amazing.

Once you’ve had it, you’re not going to be very impressed with those little boxes. (Although if you have some in your pantry, I can show you some really cool things to do with them involving cakes and sweet bread dough, so don’t toss them yet!)

And do you know, my first batch of pudding turned out perfectly, even with the vague directions of vintage cookbooks. (A knob of sweet butter??? Just how big is a ‘knob’?)

It was several years before I learned how easy it is to make real whipped cream. I worked at a university kitchen, and my boss was great at teaching me with hands-on experience.

She poured a gallon of heavy cream in our huge Hobart mixer, handed me the whisk attachment and gave me the oh-so-vague instructions: “Don’t let it turn into butter.”

I’m proud to say I’ve never accidentally made butter. Yes, that’s what happens if you whip it for too long!

Okay, so … the pie?

Yes, back to the pie.

You could use a pre-made crust, add some bananas, pour vanilla or butterscotch instant pudding on top, and put a canister of whipped cream handy for people to help themselves. You could, and it will still disappear off the table at the church picnic.

But let’s not do that.

Let’s pretend like we’re Grandma making Banana Pie (and the first mention of it was way back in 1903, so she could have).

No instant pudding, no pre-made crust.

We’re going old school and it will be soooooo good. Are you ready?

This recipe is a wee bit simpler than that Top Milk Fudge from the 1800s. In that one, I had to temper the eggs by whisking a bit of cooked custard into the beaten eggs, then sloooowly add them back. And THEN add the butter. It was a bit more complicated and luckily we have ways to make it easier now.

Still from scratch and homemade, but a tiny bit simplified.

How about a step-by-step?

Place the top oven rack in the center position and pre-heat oven to 400°F.

Use a stand or hand-held mixer to prepare the pie crust. Add the flour, salt, and shortening in a medium-size bowl and mix to combine.

Add the ice-cold water a little at a time, until the dough clumps together and can form a ball.

The mixer beaters don’t heat up the dough the way your fingers do!

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a 12-inch diameter.

Fold the dough in half and then in half again and transfer to a 9-inch diameter deep-dish pie plate.

Press the dough down into the pie pan.

Trim if there is more than ½ inch of excess dough hanging over the edges.

Fold the edges of the dough under, and then crimp together with your thumb or a fork.

Line the pie crust with parchment paper and fill it with pie weights or dry beans. Blind bake (aka “pre-bake”) the crust in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes.

Remove the crust from the oven and remove the dry beans or pie weights. Set aside.

To make the filling, combine the milk, cream, eggs, sugar, salt, corn starch, and gelatin in a large saucepan.

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Stir until well blended and heat over medium-low heat while whisking often. (This is where I’ve simplified it – yes, my lovelies, we’re just dumping it all in. And it works! The gelatin helps.)

When the custard has thickened and becomes difficult to stir, turn the heat off and stir in the butter and vanilla.

Set aside.

Do NOT add the butter and vanilla until your custard is thick AND you have removed the pot from the heat.

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I love watching the butter melt and mix in.

Slice the bananas and line the bottom of the pie crust with two layers of sliced bananas. Pour the custard over the bananas and smooth the custard out throughout the pie.

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Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and bake for 20-25 minutes.

When the baking time finishes, remove pie from oven and cool completely before transferring to the refrigerator. Chill for a few hours or overnight before serving.

To serve, top with whipped cream and additional banana slices, if desired. Enjoy!

Doesn’t that look amazing? It tastes even better. Go on and make some real, homemade Banana Cream Pie.

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