Salted Caramel Banana Pudding Pie
I saw this recipe about a year ago on “Desserts First” with Anne Thornton and after cleaning out my file cabinet, I decided it was time to give it a go. I am already the Banana Pudding champ round these parts so I figured the addition of a buttered crust and salted caramel could take me to superstar status with this thing…..and it did. I mention it in the recipe but please note that the caramel has to cool for 4 hours so you should either prepare it the day before you want to serve the pie or just early in the day. But by all means, don’t start on a dessert at 8:30 pm and have 6 angry faces looking at you like “what do you mean we have to wait until tomorrow to eat?”. lol
This pie has 5 (super easy, however) parts. Make the caramel sauce FIRST. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Salted Caramel Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon Fleur de sel
Directions
Over low heat, mix the water, and sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook until the sugar dissolves, about 5 to 10 minutes. Do not stir. Increase the heat to medium and boil uncovered until the sugar turns a warm chestnut brown (about 350 degrees F on a candy thermometer), about 5 to 7 minutes, gently swirling the pan to stir the mixture. Be careful – the mixture is extremely hot!
Watch the mixture very carefully at the end, as it will go from caramel to burnt very quickly. Turn off the heat, and stand back to avoid splattering. Slowly add the cream. Don’t panic – the cream will bubble violently, and the caramel will solidify.
Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth, about 2 minutes. Allow the sauce to cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. It will thicken as it sits.
Crust Ingredients
1 box of Nila Wafers, crushed (for 9 in pan)
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted. (I love the European butters for crusts)
Directions
I have a 9.5” pie pan so I would recommend you crush about 45-50 Nila Wafers. You can put them in a Food Processor but since I don’t have one (*side eye*), I put them in a ziploc bag and beat them with the back of an ice-cream scoop for about 5-8 minutes. Therapeutic, as I thought on why I didn’t own a Food Processor, if I may add. Make sure they are finely crushed. Reserve 1/2 cup to top the pie.
Stir together crushed vanilla wafers and butter in a small bowl until blended. Firmly press it into the bottom, up the sides, and onto the lip of a greased 9-inch pie plate. Bake until lightly browned, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove to a wire rack, and let cool until completely cool, about 30 minutes.
Bananas Ingredients
3 large ripe bananas, sliced
1 cup salted caramel, plus more for garnish (1 cup caramel, plus 1 teaspoon fleur de sel)
Directions
Coat the banana slices with salted caramel.
Vanilla Pudding Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
4 egg yolks
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions
In a bowl whisk together the sugar and flour until all of the lumps are gone. Once it is a fine powder, whisk in the eggs, and egg yolks, and continue whisking until a smooth paste is formed. Slowly whisk in 1 cup of milk, and once this is incorporated add the remaining cup of milk. Transfer the mixture to a heavy-bottomed saucepan, and cook over medium heat whisking constantly, until it reaches the thickness of chilled pudding, about 10 to 15 minutes. (Mixture will just begin to bubble and will be thick enough to hold soft peaks when the whisk is lifted.) Remove from the heat, and stir in vanilla.
Whipped Cream Topping Ingredients
1 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons Imitation Rum Liquer or Almond extract
5 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
Directions:
In a large bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Add the extract, and sugar and beat until peaks form. Make sure not to overbeat, or the cream will become lumpy, and butter-like.
ASSEMBLING THE PIE:
Note: the original recipe calls for pouring the “hot” pudding into the prepared pie dish but I didn’t read where the caramel had to cool for 4 hours prior to starting this recipe so I had to refrigerate it overnight before adding to the pan and it was fine.
Arrange prepared banana slices evenly over the bottom of the cooled crust. Spread half of the hot (or not-see above note) prepared Vanilla Pudding over the bananas, top with vanilla wafers, and more caramel-coated bananas. Spread the remaining filling over the vanilla wafers, and caramel-coated bananas. Spread the cream over the pies. At service, garnish with a caramel swirl, and the reserved vanilla wafer crumbs.
