Banana Cream Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 Piecrust blind baked and cooled
• 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup very cold, heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 1/2 cups cold creme patissiere, recipe below
• 2 ripe bananas, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
• 3 ounce bittersweet chocolate bar, for making curls

Creme Patissiere Ingredients:

• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Creme Patissiere Directions:

1. Have at the ready a bowl for cooling the pastry cream with a fine-mesh sieve placed on top.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and sugar. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth. Set aside.
3. Pour milk, salt, vanilla into a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat; bring to just under a boil, stirring occasionally and making sure that the milk solids are not sticking to the bottom of the pan.
4. When the milk is ready, slowly ladle about one-third of the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly.
5. Pour the egg-milk mixture back into the hot milk and and continue to whisk over medium heat until the mixture is as thick as lightly whipped cream. It must come just to a boil — there is a fine line between thickened and curdled cream. Remove from the heat and immediately pour through the sieve into the bowl. (If left in the pan too long, the pastry cream will continue to cook.) Let cool for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to release heat.
6. When the pastry cream has cooled (about 140?F), stir in the butter one piece at a time, whisking until smooth before adding the next piece.
7. To cool the cream, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and press the plastic onto the pastry cream. This will keep the pastry cream from developing a skin. Place in refrigerator to chill. Do not whisk the pastry cream once it is cold. Doing that will break down and thin the cream.

Assembly Instructions:

1. Melt the chopped bittersweet chocolate either by short bursts in a microwave. Stir until the chocolate has just melted. Spread the melted chocolate over the base of the pastry shell. Transfer pastry to refrigerator to cool for 10 minutes.
2. While chocolate is chilling, pour the heavy cream into a mixing bowl and whisk with electric mixer, until it begins to thicken. Add the sugar and continue to whisk until it holds medium-firm peaks.
3. Remove from the crust from the refrigerator. Spoon the chilled pastry cream evenly over the chocolate. It is not necessary to stir the pastry cream when you remove it from the refrigerator.
4. Take the sliced bananas and evenly cover the top of the pastry cream, gently pressing the bananas into the pastry cream.
5. Top the tart with the whipped cream and finish with a sprinkling of chocolate curls. To make the chocolate curls, warm the bar of chocolate, but do not melt! Use a vegetable peeler and run it across the top of the chocolate to create the curls.
6. Chill the tart for at least 3 hours after assembly and serve the pie cool. (I pull my tart from the refrigerator about 45 minutes before I plan to serve it.) It will keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Notes:

• The first time I made this, I made the chocolate coating too thick. I figured that I couldn’t put too much chocolate in it, but it hardens and makes it difficult to serve and eat. The chocolate layer acts as a barrier to prevent the crust from getting soggy
• The original includes caramel, but I just skip that

Original Source: https://honestcooking.com/tartines-caramel-banana-cream-pie-chocolate/