Banana Meringue Pie Recipe

One of my favorite deserts for the holiday season or in fact at any time of the year is a delicious banana meringue pie.  Below is my recipe for a very tasty banana meringue pie that is packed full of sliced bananas that are surrounded by a delicious custard that is made from eggs, milk, sugar, butter, vanilla extract and almond extract and then topped with a sweet and tasty meringue topping.

Ingredients:

1 (9 inch) pie crust
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3 cups of whole milk
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons of butter at room temperature
3/4 teaspoons of vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon of almond extract
4 medium bananas
3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar
6 tablespoons of sugar

Instructions:

You will want to begin by preheating the oven to 375 degrees F.

Line your pie crust with parchment paper and fill it with dried beans.  Then place your pie crust into your preheated oven and bake your pie crust until the crust is set.  This  should take 12 to 14 minutes.   Then remove the paper and weights from your pie crust and then continue to bake until golden brown.  This should take 8 to 10 minutes.  Now, remove your pie crust from the oven and cool on a wire rack.  Then reduce the temperature of your oven to 350 and leave your oven on.

To make the custard you will want to whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, salt and milk until smooth in a heavy large saucepan. Cook and stir the mixture over medium-high heat until thickened and bubbly. You will then want to reduce the heat and cook while stirring for 2 minutes longer.  Remove the saucepan from the heat and then stir in a small amount of hot mixture into a bowl that you have beaten your eggs in.  This is called tempering the eggs and you do it so that you don’t create scrambled eggs in your mixture.  Once the eggs are tempered return the mixture to the saucepan and bring it to a gentle boil and cook for an additional 2 minutes.

Your next step is to remove the saucepan from the heat and then gently stir in the butter, almond extract and vanilla extract.   Then, after your custard has cooled slightly you will want to slice your bananas into the custard and mix them in.  Then immediately pour your custard into the pie shell that you baked.  Most cooks simply slice the bananas into the bottom of the pie shell and then pour the custard over top but I found that I like the bananas throughout the custard not just on the bottom of the pie and doing it this way better achieves that result.  Then set your pie aside while you make your meringue topping

You will now want to prepare the meringue by taking a medium mixing bowl and add in in your egg whites and cream of tartar and beat your ingredients with a hand mixer on a medium speed until soft peaks form.  Then gradually add in your sugar a tablespoon at a time while you beat your mixer on high speed until stiff glossy peaks form in the meringue and your sugar has completely dissolved.   Then spread your meringue completely over your banana filling that will still be hot.  I think curly peaks give a great texture to a banana meringue pie’s top so use a spoon to swirl and twist the meringue until you achieve this result.  Make certain that you seal the edges of the meringue to the crust of your pie shell.  If you do not then the meringue will shrink a bit as it bakes.

Now place your banana meringue pie into your preheated oven and bake at 350 degrees F. until the meringue is golden brown.  This should take 10 to 15 minutes.  Keep an eye on it after 10 minutes to make certain it doesn’t over brown   Then cool on a wire rack for 1 hour.  After that time place your pie in the refrigerator and chill your banana meringue pie for 3 to 4 hours or overnight before serving.  enjoy