Banana Cream Pie

Banana Cream Pie

For my research project in English class my topic is on doughs and batters and one of my little sub topics is pie. I don't have much experience making pie but I thought it couldn't be that difficult, theres 3 ingredients plus salt. I deffinitly need more practice lol, the crust came out good but its hard to work with pie dough. You have to barely handel the dough to prevent it from becoming tough. I used my food processor to combine the flour and fats (shortening and butter), but next time I will use a pastry blender to have more control over the size of the fat pieces. I am planning on making a savory pie, Quiche, this weekend and hopefully it will be prettier than the one pictured above. I was really disappointed I didn't have enough extra dough to make a pretty decorative border.

I am not by any means saying this pie wasn't good, it was delicious. The bottom of the crust is coated with chocolate to prevent sogginess, then theres a layer of sweet sliced bananas, filled with home made custard and topped with fresh sweetend whip cream and garnished with chocolate drizzle and more sliced bananas.

When I began baking this, I was way more intimidated to make the custard than the pie crust. I had never made custard before and was afraid I would end up with scrambled eggs and boiled milk all over the stove (this happened once making oatmeal, it NEVER comes off). I followed a recipe for pastry cream from The Simple Art of Perfect Baking, a very reliable cookbook, and it was surprisingly easy. I started off by simmering some whole milk and combining egg yokes, sugar and a little flour in a separate bowl. Then you first temper the eggs to prevent scrambling, and add them to the milk and simmer while whisking until it thickens. Just let it chill in the fridge and thats it!

I topped this pie with some fresh whipped cream to make it super decadent. Fresh whipped cream is incredibly easy and way better than anything in a can or a tub from the grocery store. It does, however, consist of heavy cream (sometimes called whipping cream) so its very high in calories and expensive, like $5 for a little carton. I highly recommend it for special occasions. All you really need is the heavy cream, if you like it sweet, like I do, put a few heaping tablespoons of powdered sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla in with the cream before you begin mixing.

Whip Cream

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3 heaping tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1. Chill a metal bowl and your mixing utensils in the freezer for about 10 minutes, having them very cold helps the cream whip.
2. Combine all ingredients in the bowl and whip until peaks form. I use an electric mixer and it takes about three minutes, your shoulder will get tired.
3. Serve immediately.

Banana Split Cupcakes

These banana split cupcakes turned out absolutely beautiful. Its a fluffy banana cupcake with sweet strawberry filling topped with fresh whipped cream, rich chocolate ganach, rainbow jimmies and a maraschino cherry. I love maraschino cherries, I order rum cokes just for the cherries and sneak them from the bar top when no ones looking lol. Back to the cupcakes, this recipe made 30 so I brought a dozen to work and a dozen to my boyfriend and his roommates leaving the rest for my family. These tempting treats were quickly devoured by my coworkers and family and my boyfriend had one for breakfast. They were a huge hit.

gather all necessary ingredients and equipment before
 you start to make things go more smoothly

I found this recipe on Annie's Eats and copied it exactly for the most part. I think the only thing I changed was omitting the canned pineapple because I hate canned pineapple. I considered using fresh but worried about the enzymes destroying the cake. I also used thawed frozen strawberries and added and extra tablespoon of powdered sugar to the berries. I also had to double the amount of whip cream because the amount she listed was not enough for all 30 cupcakes.

unusual beginnings

A big concern I had when decorating these was worrying the ganache would melt the whip cream. To avoid this catastrophe, I let the frosted cupcakes chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours. I also let the ganache cool to the touch before applying it. Another concern was having to keep these treats refrigerated, I think refrigeration dries out cake and kills flavors however, these cupcakes are incredibly moist and were just as good the next day. I had also never made cake were the butter and sugar creamed like this recipe. Usually creaming yields a light and fluffy butter and sugar combo but this was grainy looking and I was concerned they were not going to rise properly. Lucky for me they rose perfectly but this could have been due to the large amount of baking soda. I think if I were to make these again I would cut down the amount of sugar to 1 1/2 cups to get a more standard batter.

Cookies n' Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes

These cupcakes were delicious. I saw something like this on Martha Stewarts website and it just looked too good not to make. I made a few changes to Martha's original recipe. For the crust, she simply puts a whole Oreo in the bottom of each cup in the muffin pan. While this method is quick and creates a beautiful presentation, I didn't think it was practical for eating. When just eating Oreos no one bites into the whole thing, you twist it apart and dunk it in a big glass of milk, biting into the thing whole would just create a crumby mess. To solve this problem, I just made an Oreo crumb crust using cookies and a few tablespoons of butter which held together perfectly when bitten into. I followed her cheesecake filling exactly and it was everything I expect from Martha, delicious. Crushed Oreo chunks are suspended in the thick cheesecake creating a crunchy contrast to the creamy smooth filling. Unfortunately, Martha's cupcakes were frosting-less, which is just crazy, every cake needs frosting. I made a simple whip cream frosting with a couple handfuls of very finely crushed Oreo crumbs folded in. the light whip cream balanced the heaviness of the cheesecake and made them look beautiful. Be sure to finely crush the crumbs for the frosting otherwise your pastry bag will get clogged and drive you crazy.

finely crushed

Cookies n' Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes

Ingredients
for the crust
half a box of oreos
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

for the cheesecake
1 pound cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
pinch of salt
half a box of Oreos, crushed in the food processor

for the frosting
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
3 heaping tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla exract
1/2 to 2/3 a cup very finely crushed Oreos

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Line a muffin tin with paper liners
3. For the crust, combine Oreos and melted butter in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add more butter if necessary, it should hold together when pressed but should not feel greasy.
4. Using a shot glass, press heaping tablespoons of the buttery crumbs into the lined muffin tins.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 275 degrees.
6. For the cheese cake, with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth, scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Gradually stream in the sugar and continue to beat until combined. Beat in the vanilla.
7. Add the eggs in slowly, beating to combine and scraping the sides of the bowl with each addition. Beat in the sour cream and salt until combined. Fold in the Oreos by hand as you would chocolate chips in cookie dough.
8. Cheesecake doesn't rise so you can fill the cups almost to the top. Bake for 10 minutes, rotate pan, and bake for another 10-15 minutes. They should be slightly springy like Jello when you check for doneness.
9. Leave them in the muffin tins to cool. Chill in the refrigerator overnight or at least for 4 hours.
10. To make the frosting, beat the whip cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form, don't give up its only about 3-4 minutes but you'll get a shoulder workout. Gently, fold in the cookie crumbs by hand.

These are the cupcakes as soon as I took them out.
They poof up a little but fall flat when cooled.