Brittled Banana Cream Pie

Earlier this summer, I toyed with the idea of incorporating brittle into other dishes. Banana cream pie continued to emerge as top contender. The brittle would provide some serious contrast in texture to the smooth cream pie and both dishes embody a sort of retro feel I find totally appealing.

The resulting combination turned out to be delicious. For my pie, I followed Gale Gand’s recipe, but substituted her pie crust for a graham cracker crust. Gale used to host a dessert show on Food Network and has won the James Beard Award for best Pastry Chef.My brittle recipe comes from a woman named Ginny from Bradenton, Florida. Wikipedia notes that Bradenton “is the largest Principal City of the Bradenton- Sarasota-Venice, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area” and houses the multiple-award-winning theatre group, The Manatee Players. Ginny’s recipe is featured on the Nut Factory’s website.  Thanks Gale and Ginny! 

*Please note that I replaced the granulated sugar in both recipes with raw cane sugar and my brittle was made with raw cashews, instead of peanuts. I used raw cane sugar because I realized last minute my pantry’s supply of white sugar was low and I used cashews because raw peanuts are apparently unavailable for the residents of Boca Raton. (I’m looking at you, Publix, Whole Foods, and Fresh Market…)

Ginny’s Peanut Brittle (in her own words):

This is a very simple recipe from my husband’s family. what makes it so delicious is how light and airy it is and not at all sticky. You achieve this by adding the soda after you take it off the heat. 

1 cup light corn syrup 
1 cup granulated sugar 
1 tablespoon butter 
1/4 teaspoon salt
raw peanuts (however many you like)  
1 heaping teaspoon baking soda 

put all the ingredients, except the peanuts and soda, in a deep sauce pan. Put on medium heat. stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Now add the peanuts. Stirring at all times, take mixture to 290 on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and stir in one heaping teaspoon baking soda (make sure baking soda is fresh). Now pour out on a greased cookie sheet. do not tip cookie sheet to thin, this peanut brittle is best when thick which makes it more airy. 

The resulting brittle will look something like this…

Once the brittle has cooled completely, crack it into large pieces with the back of a wood spoon and bag for friends and family to enjoy.  To prepare the brittle for this dish, continue to whack at the brittle until you have enough small chunks to cover the surface of a 9×9 inch pie (about 1 1/2 cups.) 

Graham Cracker Crust:

1 1/2 cups of graham Cracker Crumbs

1/3 cup of sugar

6 tablespoons of Melted Butter

Mix all ingredients until well combined. Pack mixture into a 9 x 9 pie dish and bake at 375 F for about 8 minutes (until golden).

Banana Cream Filling: (Gale’s recipe makes 2 pies, so this is her recipe divided by two. I still am not totally sure why a recipe would make two pies, but whatever)

• 4 cups milk
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 of a vanilla bean, split lengthwise (ff&f note: I used a beautiful Ugandan vanilla bean, which was very large. If your bean seems small or a little dried out, feel free to use the whole bean.) 
• 12 egg yolks
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 3  tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 3 ripe bananas, sliced into coins 1/4-inch thick (ff&f note: + 1/2 banana sliced into semi-circles for garnish) 

Beat egg yokes and sugar until light and frothy. Slowly add in the cornstarch. (Seriously, add the cornstarch slowly… I got a little ambitious and launched a massive cloud of cornstarch all over me and the counter.) 

Heat milk, salt, and vanilla in a large sauce pot until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from burner and stir for one minute to let thicken.

Slowly pour half of hot milk mixture into egg yoke mixture to temper the yokes. Pour the egg and milk mixture back in pot and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Lower heat (Gale says to medium low, but I needed to set it to low) and continue to whisk until mixture becomes a think custard and no longer tastes of cornstarch. (about 4-5 minutes) 

Remove custard from burner and add the pieces of butter. Once the butter pats melt, fold in the 3 sliced bananas and pour the filling into the pie shell. Gale recommends you push in any sliced bananas to avoid browning. Let the pie cool in the fridge for anywhere from 6 hours to overnight. 

Top pie with chunks of brittle and whipped cream. Serve and enjoy.