Blender Banana Cream Pie by The Careless Chef

 

Blender Banana Cream Pie by The Careless Chef

 

I’ve had so many people writing and asking questions about the Lemon Pie recipe.    Now I’ll answer all three of them.

 

1. You said you use a whole lemon in the recipe.  How do you get the seeds out?

Well Daphne, the secret is in the list of ingredients and I specifically refer to the lemon:  chopped.  Then look for the little hard white thingies.

 

2. What if I don’t like lemon because they hurt my stomach and I break out in hives, but my husband likes lemons and they don’t hurt his stomach?

I offer two solutions:  The first, is don’t make a lemon pie, Mildred!  Option II, which I think suits you better:  Sacrifice yourself for the good of mankind and continue to complain.

 

3.  Can you use fruit other than lemon?

Yes, Chrystal.  In fact, the other day I used moldy tangerines.  Just be sure to brush your teeth afterwards.

 

But, now, showing his magnanimity The Carless Cook will toss you another blender delight:  Banana Cream Pie!  Hint for Daphne:  Peel the bananas.

 

Blender Banana Cream Pie

Heat the oven to 350ºF, 180ºC

 

Ingredients

 

¾ cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

½ cup heavy cream

1 ½ cups milk

3 egg yolks

4 bananas, PEELED and broken into pieces (I used very dark, overly ripe bananas because that’s what I had in my frig)

a pat of butter

a nine inch graham cracker piecrust

 

Now comes the really difficult part:  Put everything but the piecrust in a blender and blend until it is the consistency of pudding. 

 

Pour the contents of the blender into a saucepan and cook until it begins to thicken.  Stir constantly or you will have lumps at the bottom of the pot!  Cook a couple of minutes more.

 

Pour the mixture into the piecrust and slip it in the oven for 15-18 minutes.  In my oven it took the full 18 minutes.  You can tell the pie is done when you only get a tiny bit of wiggle in the middle.

Allow the pie to cool, then cover and put it in the refrig.  It will thicken up nicely as it cools and will be easy to cut into slices.

 

For serving, you can top the pie with lightly sweetened whipped cream, or decorate with extra rounds of banana, or do as I did and just lightly sprinkle the whole pie with cinnamon.  OR, you can use the egg whites to make a merengue, pile the merengue the top and then bake the pie. 

Merengue is not a favorite of The Careless Cook.  He thinks it detracts from the fruit flavor.  This is one of the lesser known of his personality flaws.

 

I tested my creation on a women’s Sunday School class and got rave reviews, along with proposals of marriage, and several phone numbers.

 

Only kidding.  No one proposed marriage.

 

 

Lemon Pie in a Blender by The Careless Cook

 

Lemon Pie in a Blender by The Careless Cook

 

By now you know I’m a big believer in the serendipity of cooking.  Being precise only slows a cook down!  Why use a teaspoon measure for this or that.  Use a teaspoon measure once and pour the salt or sugar or whatever in your hand.  After that you know what a teaspoon-full looks like!  And do a few grains of sugar or salt make a difference?  I think not, but then I’m a careless cook.

 

But, how about liquids?  Hey, do you measure exactly how much wine you’ve just poured in your glass?  And when you bring it to your pouty lips, does it taste good?  Taste is the key.

 

So in this recipe, which may call for a teaspoon of vanilla, does a small slosh do just as well as a teaspoon certified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a part of the U.S. Department of Commerce?

 

I say “Down with government interference in my lemon pie!”  I shall slosh and sprinkle if I wish!  And by golly, it will taste great!

 

“But, oh treasured Careless Cook,” you of slight courage may ask, “How can you be sure it will taste good?”

 

Because I taste tested it, you ninny!  

 

Now have another slosh of wine and let’s get started making Lemon Pie in a Blender.

 

Ingredients

 

1 whole lemon, NOT PEELED, washed, seeded, and chopped (no need to overdo the chopping.  That’s why we use a blender!) 

4 large eggs

½ cup butter, melted (1 stick)

1 teaspoon of vanilla (just in case you’ve not perfected your sloshing technique)

1 ½ cups sugar, or two generous hand-fulls

 

1 deep dish piecrust, either store bought or home made….recipe below.

 

Heat the oven to 350ºF or 180º C

 

Toss all the ingredients, except the piecrust!, in the blender and blend well.

 

Pour the lemon mixture in the piecrust and entrust it to the oven for 40 minutes.

 

NOTE:  If you’re using a store bought piecrust, follow the package directions for thawing or not thawing.

 

 

Because I am not a greedy man, I shared this pie with my significant other. She got one piece.  No sense in overdoing this sharing stuff.

 

Pastry Crust:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

large pinch of sea salt

8 tablespoons of butter, cut into bits

6 tablespoons cold water

 

Put all the ingredients, except the water, in a food processor and pulse until all is blended. Should look like coarse meal.

 

Put the water in by spoon-full to spread it around.  Pulse again until the dough clumps together.  Roll it out thinly on a surface dusted with flour. 

 

So simple!  You will find yourself using this flaky crust over and over.

 

 

How to rid yourself of culinary inhibitions and become a careless cook:

 

Your training begins with a big glass of wine…..

 

“Well,” you ask, “what if I’m making breakfast?”

 

In that case you have two choices. Either postpone the time you choose to break your fast, or slap your face to jar your memory that wine is really only grape juice that has been carefully cared for.