Week #27 - Chocolate, Banana, Peanut Butter Cream

As I mentioned in last week's post, this week's pie came about as a reaction to some comments about flavors that go well together during the semi-weekly pie tasting at work. Since no particular pie was mentioned, that gave me another opportunity to make up a recipe rather than follow a script.

If you recall, the flavor's mentioned were chocolate, peanut butter, and banana. With those flavors in mind, I attempted to cobble something together.

Here is the fallout...

The Crust

I started with the usual pastry crust recipe, with some additions:

• 1/2 cup of cocoa
• 1 additional tablespoon of sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup chopped peanuts

The crust did not turn out too bad, but the consistency ended up being a little bit off. It definitely was not flaky like the pastry crust normally is. I assume that the cocoa was largely responsible for that change. Overall, it was not a horrible crust, but it ended up a little bit thick and hard. Not the highlight, although I did not think that it ruined the pie. The peanuts added a little bit of texture, but were not as noticeable as I had expected. If I had it to do over again, I think that I would just skip the nuts in the crust.

The Filling, part 1

I blind baked the crust and then borrowed the "truffle" layer from an earlier pie for this one. The crust itself did not end up with a strong chocolate flavor, so I am glad that I included this layer, otherwise I do not think that the chocolate would have been a strong enough component.

The Filling, part 2

The rest of the filling was simply layers of sliced bananas and a peanut butter custard/cream. This part of the filling went well. I have made several similar pies now and so it was not a completely foreign experience. Maybe I am actually starting to get it! Probably not, but maybe...

Here is a full shot (just some grated chocolate on the top)

And a slice (you can make out the layers if you squint really hard). Nothing cute about this one. That is one manly, deep-dish slice of pie!

I shared some with the whole family after it had set up for about six hours and it was pretty nicely balanced among the three major flavors. By the next day, however, the bananas had really started to overpower the peanut butter. There is surely some lesson to be learned there. Do not use bananas that are too ripe perhaps? Ah, it is all lost on me. I just make a pie a week for crying out loud. If you like it, eat it. If not, throw it away.

Next week... controversy