Today marks 17 years since my best friend in high school died. Her home was my second home. Her family was my second family. And vise versa. She unfortunately had severe depression and ultimately took her own life. She was 16. I never understood it because she was so full of spirit and happiness and always appeared to be loving life. She was a beautiful soul that should not have left this earth that soon. I was young and didn’t know how to deal with the loss, so my life went into a downward spiral for years following that event. What brought me back from that was my family and my passion for cooking. Now, I cherish life. I celebrate it, and the loved ones I have around me.
It’s been a while since I’ve shared a banana recipe! For those of you who don’t know, I’m a HUGE banana dessert fan. Anything banana cream, anything bruleed banana, just ANYTHING banana. Except those gross fake banana “flavored” candy things. Just, no. So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, and the fact that I had a full case of extra bananas at work up for grabs, I’ve come up with an Instagram worthy, crowd-pleasing recipe that is just ONE more option for your holiday feast; Nutella Banana Cream Pie. It’s got a sweet cocoa cookie crust, crunchy Nutella ganache, a layer of sliced bananas, and an ethereal banana cream topping. You’re going to want seconds- I can tell your mouth is already drooling.
Since starting this blog, I’ve been trying to up my social media game! Particularly on Pinterest and Instagram. Let’s be friends! Follow me on Pinterest here. Follow me on Instagram here. Happy baking friends!
Banana Nutella Cream Pie
Cocoa Pie Crust
Flour 1 ¼ cup
Salt ¼ tsp
Baking powder 1/8 tsp
Cocoa powder 2 T
Sugar 1 T
Butter, Cold 8 T (4 oz.)
Cold water 4-5 T
Crunchy Nutella Layer
Cream ¾ cup
Chocolate, Chopped ¼ cup
Nutella ½ cup
Hazelnuts, Chopped ½ cup
Banana Custard Layer
Bananas, mashed 2
Cream ½ cup
Cornstarch 1 T
Salt pinch
Sugar 2 T
Vanilla 1 tsp
Yolk 1
Cream, Whipped 1 cup
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 C).
First start by making the cocoa dough crust. Place all ingredients except for the water into a food processor and pulse. Add 1 T of cold water at a time until dough forms together.
Wrap with plastic and set in a fridge for 20 minutes.
Once dough is rested, sprinkle some flour over your work surface and roll out the cocoa dough until 1/4 inch thick.
Lay into pie pan and cut off edges, and style however you’d like. I’ve always been bad at crimping edges so I just trim them off.
Take a fork and dock the dough all over. Place pie pan in freezer for 5 minutes to get the butter cold again.
Bake the crust for 15 minutes. Cool down before starting the next step, we are done with the oven.
For the crunchy Nutella layer, place the cream in a small sauce pot and on medium heat.
In a medium bowl, place the Nutella and chopped chocolate. Once the cream starts to rise, remove from heat and pour over Nutella/chocolate mixture. Slowly incorporate cream into the Nutella until it reaches a smooth saucy consistency.
Fold in the chopped hazelnuts, and pour into pie shell. Let this cool and set up for 1 hour in a refrigerator. (or faster in a freezer)
To make the banana custard layer, start by whipping 1 cup of cream until you reach stiff peaks. Set aside.
Next, place ½ cup cream in a small sauce pan.
In a separate bowl, combine yolk, cornstarch, and sugar. Whisk together until thoroughly combined.
Have the mashed banana ready in a separate medium bowl. Add vanilla to this.
Heat the cream on high, and right before it starts to rise (boil), pull from heat and slowly pour a little hot cream mixture into the yolk mixture. You are slowly raising the temperature of the yolk so it does not curdle. Once all the cream is in the yolk mixture, pour it all back into the pot and heat again on medium. Whisk vigorously and do not leave for a second, this will thicken up in no time. Once thickened, quickly pour over the banana mash and whisk to combine and to cool the custard down.
Fold in the whipped cream and continue to fold until all combined.
Now, you can either place cream in a piping bag and pipe the cream layer on the pie OR just smooth it over with a spatula. Finish with some more chopped hazelnuts if desired!
Chill the pie for 2 hours before cutting into it.
ENJOY!
Banana Nutella Cream Pie
Ingredients
Cocoa Pie Crust
- 1 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp baking powder
- 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 8 Tbsp cold butter
- 4-5 Tbsp cold water
Crunchy Nutella Layer
- 3/4 cup cream
- 1/4 tsp chocolate, chopped
- 1/2 cup nutella
- 1/2 cup hazelnuts, chopped
Banana Custard
- 2 mashed bananas
- 1/2 cup cream
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 yolk
- 1 cup cream, whipped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 C).
- First start by making the cocoa dough crust. Place all ingredients except for the water into a food processor and pulse. Add 1 T of cold water at a time until dough forms together.
- Wrap with plastic and set in a fridge for 20 minutes.
- Once dough is rested, sprinkle some flour over your work surface and roll out the cocoa dough until 1/4 inch thick.
- Lay into pie pan and cut off edges, and style however you’d like. I’ve always been bad at crimping edges so I just trim them off.
- Take a fork and dock the dough all over. Place pie pan in freezer for 5 minutes to get the butter cold again.
- Bake the crust for 15 minutes. Cool down before starting the next step, we are done with the oven.
- For the crunchy Nutella layer, place the cream in a small sauce pot and on medium heat.
- In a medium bowl, place the Nutella and chopped chocolate. Once the cream starts to rise, remove from heat and pour over Nutella/chocolate mixture. Slowly incorporate cream into the Nutella until it reaches a smooth saucy consistency.
- Fold in the chopped hazelnuts, and pour into pie shell. Let this cool and set up for 1 hour in a refrigerator. (or faster in a freezer)
- To make the banana custard layer, start by whipping 1 cup of cream until you reach stiff peaks. Set aside.
- Next, place ½ cup cream in a small sauce pan.
- In a separate bowl, combine yolk, cornstarch, and sugar. Whisk together until thoroughly combined.
- Have the mashed banana ready in a separate medium bowl. Add vanilla to this.
- Heat the cream on high, and right before it starts to rise (boil), pull from heat and slowly pour a little hot cream mixture into the yolk mixture. You are slowly raising the temperature of the yolk so it does not curdle. Once all the cream is in the yolk mixture, pour it all back into the pot and heat again on medium. Whisk vigorously and do not leave for a second, this will thicken up in no time. Once thickened, quickly pour over the banana mash and whisk to combine and to cool the custard down.
- Fold in the whipped cream and continue to fold until all combined.
- Now, you can either place cream in a piping bag and pipe the cream layer on the pie OR just smooth it over with a spatula. Finish with some more chopped hazelnuts if desired!
- Chill the pie for 2 hours before cutting into it.
