Banana Caramel Cream

Well look at me with two baking posts back-to-back. As I said in my last post, I don’t cook. Baking, on the other hand, I’m more successful with. Thanks to Pinterest, I came across this recipe a while ago and have now made it twice; both times, it was a huge success. The first time I tried this recipe I assembled it as individual servings, which is what the recipe calls for. Yesterday, however, I made it as a Thanksgiving dessert so I made two pie dishes (about 9 inches in diameter) instead of individual servings. So the recipe below is for two dishes; if you only want to make one, or if you want to assemble the dessert into about six small dessert servings, cut all the ingredients by half. This dessert is to die for- the fact that I got rave reviews for it is proof enough!

Ingredients

– Vanilla Pastry Cream (recipe below)
– Bananas (I used four bananas for my two dishes)
– Caramel sauce
– Fresh whipped cream (I used 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream and 2 tablespoons powdered sugar)
– Graham cracker crumble (recipe below)

::Vanilla Pastry Cream::

Ingredients

– 1 1/3 cup sugar
– 1/2 cup cornstarch
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 6 cups whole milk
– 4 eggs
– 4 tablespoons butter
– 2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium sized bowl, beat the eggs with a fork and then set aside.

2. Mix your sugar, cornstarch and salt in a medium saucepan. Gradually pour in milk, while whisking, to make a smooth mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and boils.

3. Now you need to temper the eggs. Be patient and do this step slowly, otherwise you’ll end up with scrambled eggs. Pour several tablespoons of your hot mixture into the bowl of eggs and immediately stir well. Keep pouring a few tablespoons of the mixture at a time (while briskly stirring) until the temperature of the eggs is about the temperature of your mixture. The point is to gradually raise the temperature of the eggs so that they don’t curdle when you pour the eggs into your hot mixture. Once the eggs are warm, slowly pour them into the pan with the rest of your mixture. Return to a slow boil and cook for one minute, stirring constantly.

4. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Set aside to cool. When the pan has cooled, place in the refrigerator to fully cool. Place a piece of foil over your pan to prevent a skin from forming. Your mixture will look like this:

::Graham Cracker Crumble::

Ingredients

– One box of graham crackers (27 full sized crackers)
– 3/4 cup melted butter
– 2 1/2 tablespoon sugar

Directions

1. Crush graham crackers in a large ziplock bag. Pour crumbs, sugar and melted butter into a bowl and stir until fully combined. Pour into a casserole dish, about
9 x 13 or bigger, and press into an even layer. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes until light brown. Be sure to keep an eye on it or else your graham crackers will burn. Allow to cool.

::Fresh Whipped Cream::

All you do is mix your heavy whipping cream with the powdered sugar until it thickens- and voila! Fresh whipped cream!

::Dessert Assembly::

1. Since this recipe is for two dishes, you’ll want to split your graham cracker crumble into four equal parts. Each dish will end up with half of your graham cracker crumble.

2. Place 1/4 of your crumble into each dish, creating an even, firm layer.

3. Add a layer of pastry cream into each dish. For easy assembly, fill a large ziplock bag with the cream, snip off the end and fill the dishes from this bag. Note, it can be difficult to create an even layer of the cream but don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be perfect.