Fancy Banana Cream Pie

This past New Year's Eve we went to the neighborhood party. I was in charge of a dessert. While I love to cook I can leave baking to a bakery any day so it was a challenge to think of what I wanted to make.

My mother has been raving about a Banana Cream Pie dessert at Chesters lately so I decided I would try to create a fancy martini glass version that I could serve up individually (because really what is more ugly than a gloppy scoop of banana cream pie at a fancy party?!)

So here's what I came up with (Cassi - this may seem like an intimidating amount of steps but they are all simple and SOOOO worth it!):

For the Filling:

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3 large egg yolks
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk sugar, cornstarch, and salt in heavy medium saucepan to blend. Gradually whisk in whipping cream and whole milk, then egg yolks. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add vanilla bean. Whisk over medium-high heat until custard thickens and boils, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in unsalted butter and vanilla extract. Discard vanilla bean. Transfer custard to large bowl; cool completely, whisking occasionally, about 1 hour.

For the Crumble:

3 cups walnuts (about 12 ounces)
1 cup whole almonds
1/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, cooled

Preheat oven to 350°F. Finely chop all nuts with sugar in processor. Add butter and blend until well combined. Spread the mixture on a cookie sheet and cook until lightly browned

For the Chocolate Sauce (this is so good on icecream too!):
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons coffee-flavored liqueur (recommended: Kahlua) this can also be coffee if you don't want the alcohol or nothing at all for a basic chocolate fudge sauce

Place the chocolate in a mixing bowl.

Combine the milk and cream in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from stove and pour hot milk over chocolate. Allow mixture to sit for 1 minute. Whisk until smooth. Add coffee liqueur and whisk to combine.


Caramel Sauce (also GREAT on icecream!):
2 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup whole milk

Place all of the ingredients into a large microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes then take it out and stir. Continue to microwave for 1 minute at a time until the sugar has dissolved and the sauce reaches your desired consistency(may take awhile).

ASSEMBLY:

Chop up a few bananas

Take your martini glass and spoon some of the crumble into the bottom, top with a scoop of filling some of each (warmed) sauce and some bananas. Repeat each layer one more time for a fantastic parfait!! (Sorry no pictures... we ate them all)