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This Caramel Banana Cream Pie is made with a homemade custard, fresh bananas, and rich salted caramel in a buttery pie crust. The ultimate caramel banana cream pie!
Salted Caramel Banana Cream Pie
This pie combines the silky smoothness of homemade pastry cream, the sweetness of ripe bananas, and the indulgence of salted caramel, all nestled in a buttery crust. It’s a showstopper for any occasion!
It’s all about homemade pies on Thanksgiving. This is a made-from-scratch banana cream pie with salted caramel drizzle. It is rich and creamy with a touch of sweet caramel.
We are 4 days away from the big Thanksgiving day and I am so looking forward to this week! My entire family and also great friends from our days in Texas are coming into town so it is going to be non-stop social events. Of course, I need to carve out some baking time and this pie is making its way to our Thanksgiving table.
Ingredients:
This Salted Caramel Banana Cream Pie is ridiculously good. It starts off with an All Butter Flaky Pie Crust (recipe HERE) topped with a vanilla pastry cream made from scratch, fresh bananas, handcrafted salted caramel (feel free to substitute it straight from the jar), and sweet whipped cream.
- Whole Milk
- Sugar
- Egg Yolks
- Flour (all-purpose or cake)
- Salt
- Vanilla Bean Paste
- Bananas
- Heavy Cream
- Powdered Sugar
- Salted Caramel Sauce
- Buttery Pie Crust
How to make Homemade Pastry Cream in Banana Cream Pie:
This recipe is adapted from Flour Bakery Cookbook. The instructions are very detailed so read before starting the pastry cream.
- In a medium saucepan, scald the milk over medium-high heat (bubbles start to form around the edge of the pan, but the milk is not boiling). While the milk is heating, in a small bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, and salt (mixing the flour with the sugar will prevent the flour from clumping when you add it to the egg yolks.)
- In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until blended, then slowly whisk in the flour mixture. The mixture will be thick and pasty.
- Remove the milk from the heat and slowly add it to the egg-flour mixture, a little at a time, whisking constantly. When all of the milk has been incorporated, return the contents to the bowl to the saucepan and place over medium heat. Whisk continuously and vigorously for about 3 minutes, or until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil. At first the mixture will be very frothy and liquid and as it cooks longer, it will slowly start to thicken until the frothy bubbles disappear and it becomes very viscous. Once it thickens, stop whisking every few seconds to see if the mixture has come to a boil. If it has not, keep whisking vigorously. As soon as you see it bubbling, immediately go back to whisking for just 10 seconds, and them remove the pan from the heat. Boiling the mixture will thicken it, and cook out the flour taste, but if you let it boil for longer than 10 seconds, the mixture can become grainy.
- Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a small heatproof bowl. Stir in the vanilla, then cover with plastic wrap, placing it directly on the surface of the cream. This will prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or until cold.
The key to making this Salted Caramel Banana Cream Pie is the homemade pastry cream. It’s such a simple base for desserts but so reminiscent of times when everything was slowly cooked and handmade. I can’t leave this stuff alone! You can flavor it with either pure vanilla extract or a vanilla bean. The vanilla bean just takes it up a notch.
The salted caramel can be made from scratch or you can even grab a jar of high-quality caramel from the store to save some time. It needs to be a thick caramel — I like to use Trader Joe’s Salted Caramel Sauce in a jar or make my own Easy Homemade Caramel Sauce.
Top your pie with a generous dollop of whipped cream and an extra drizzle of salted caramel. The combination of the creamy pastry, the rich caramel, and the fresh bananas makes for a dessert that’s both comforting and indulgent.
FAQ’s:
How do I keep the bananas from turning brown?
To keep bananas from turning brown in your pie, toss the banana slices in a little lemon juice before layering them in the pie. The acidity of the lemon juice helps prevent oxidation, which causes browning.
How long should I chill banana caramel cream pie?
It’s crucial to chill the pastry cream for at least 4 hours, before assembling the pie. This allows the pastry cream to set properly, ensuring it will be set up enough to stay thick.
Why is my pastry cream lumpy?
If your pastry cream has lumps, it might be because the mixture wasn’t stirred constantly during cooking, or the eggs weren’t tempered properly. To fix this, you can strain the pastry cream through a fine-mesh sieve before cooling.
Serve with extra salted caramel sauce so guests can drizzle on more caramel if they wish.
I hope you all love this Salted Caramel Banana Cream Pie as much as we do! Happy Baking! xo
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Caramel Banana Cream Pie
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Salted Caramel Banana Cream Pie
Ingredients
Pastry Cream:
- 2 1/2 cups Whole Milk
- 1 cup Sugar (divided)
- 8 Egg Yolks
- 1/2 cup Flour (all-purpose or cake)
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Bean Paste
Garnish:
- 3 to 4 Bananas sliced
- 1 1/2 cups Heavy Cream
- 1/3 cup Powdered Sugar
- 1/2 cup Salted Caramel Sauce * (from jar or homemade)
Pie Crust:
Instructions
Pastry Cream:
- In a medium saucepan, scald the milk over medium-high heat (bubbles start to form around the edge of the pan, but the milk is not boiling). While the milk is heating, in a small bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, and salt (mixing the flour with the sugar will prevent the flour from clumping when you add it to the egg yolks.)
- In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until blended, then slowly whisk in the flour mixture. The mixture will be thick and pasty.
- Remove the milk from the heat and slowly add it to the egg-flour mixture, a little at a time, whisking constantly. When all of the milk has been incorporated, return the contents to the bowl to the saucepan and place over medium heat. Whisk continuously and vigorously for about 3 minutes, or until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil. At first the mixture will be very frothy and liquid and as it cooks longer, it will slowly start to thicken until the frothy bubbles disappear and it becomes very viscous. Once it thickens, stop whisking every few seconds to see if the mixture has come to a boil. If it has not, keep whisking vigorously. As soon as you see it bubbling, immediately go back to whisking for just 10 seconds, and them remove the pan from the heat. Boiling the mixture will thicken it, and cook out the flour taste, but if you let it boil for longer than 10 seconds, the mixture can become grainy.
- Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a small heatproof bowl. Stir in the vanilla, then cover with plastic wrap, placing it directly on the surface of the cream. This will prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or until cold.
Pie Crust:
- Follow directions to blind bake pie crust here —All Butter Flaky Pie Crust
Whipped Cream:
- Beat heavy cream until soft peaks form. Stir in powdered sugar.
Assemble Pie:
- Bake pie crust according to recipe. Cover the bottom of the prepared, cooled baked pie crust with 1 1/2 sliced bananas. Drizzle with about 2 Tablespoons to 1/4 cup of caramel. Top with chilled pastry cream. Cover with another layer of bananas (1 1/2 to 2). Top with whipped cream and drizzle with salted caramel.
- Chill the banana cream pie until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is definitely taking banana cream pie up a notch. The salted caramel is even good on ice cream!
CAN YOU MAKE THIS WITH WHOLE EGGS INSTEAD OF JUST YOLKS. I HAVE TO HAVE LEFTOVER EITHERS TO USE UP? PLEASE ADVISE. WOULD LIKE TO MAKE FOR XMAS 2O24
Hi Alex! Since this is a custard filling egg yolks are used instead of whole eggs because they provide the ideal texture, high fat content, and consistency for it turn out perfect! I hope you enjoy this recipe.
CAN YHOU MAKE THIS WITH WHOLE EGGS INSTEAD OF JUST YOLKS. I HAVE TO HAVE LEFTOVER EITHERS TO USE UP? PLEASE ADVISE. WOULD LIKE TO MAKE FOR XMAS 2O24
I make this every year for Thanksgiving. Crowd favorite and I never have leftovers so I’m making more than one this year!
That makes me so happy Katie! I am so glad that it is a crowd favorite, thank you so much for making it!
Hi Melissa,
Can you tell me if this pie can be made gluten free?
It’s essentially the pie crust flour that would be altered.
Many thanks!
That’s a great question! I haven’t tried to make it gluten-free. I am not sure how the crust will hold up with gluten-free flour. It may need more liquid so it may be an experiment. 🙂 Good luck!
I made this last year and loved it! This year I noticed the 2 tablespoons of flour is listed in the ingredients of the pastry cream, but isn’t explained in the instruction portion. Are those supposed to be added at the same time as the corn starch? Thanks so much!
OMG. Can’t even. Talk about heaven on a plate, this pie is ABSOLUTELY delicious. I couldn’t fault it if I tried….
The first time around I didn’t cook the sugar for the caramel on high enough heat and it just crystallised without caramelising like the lady mentions above. I also omitted the flour in the pie cream, I think it’s an error.
CANNOT RECOMMEND HIGH ENOUGH!!!
The reason for a pastry cream turning runny is that it probably didn’t quite get cooked long enough. There are enzymes in the egg yolks that will break down the starches as the filling sits, turning it soupy. The custard needs to reach a temperature of at least 180 degrees for these enzymes to become inactivated.
The sugar probably crystallized from stirring it while it came to a boil. The sugar should be dissolved in warm water over low heat. Once the sugar has dissolved, rinse down any sugar crystals clinging to the inside of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in warm water, then turn up the heat to medium and bring to a boil without stirring – just swirl the pan gently as needed when the sugar begins to caramelize (to help it color evenly).