Banana Cream Pie

Adapted from All Recipes

We each put in a request for pie this year for Thanksgiving and banana cream was what The Man just had to have.  This was easy and creamy and smooth.  I topped with homemade whipped cream.  I think I must have grown up with the Jell-O banana pudding version because it was strange to eat this and not taste a mouthful of banana flavored goo…but it was a change for the better that let the layer of bananas at the bottom, shine through!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup corn starch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk
• 3 egg yolks, beaten
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
• 4 bananas, sliced

Directions

1. In a saucepan, combine the sugar, flour, and salt. Add milk in gradually while stirring gently. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is bubbly. Keep stirring and cook for about 2 more minutes, and then remove from the burner.
2. Stir a small quantity of the hot mixture into the beaten egg yolks, and immediately add egg yolk mixture to the rest of the hot mixture. Cook for 2 more minutes; remember to keep stirring. Remove the mixture from the stove, and add butter and vanilla. Stir until the whole thing has a smooth consistency.
3. Slice bananas into the cooled baked pastry shell. Top with pudding mixture.
4. Chill for an hour.