Vegan Banana Cream Pie

that's bananas!

Guess what I did this weekend? I made a banana cream pie! It was sooooo good! We were invited over to dinner at some friends' house - and I was in charge of dessert. Such a happy task! I love cooking for other people, and I especially love having a reason to make a special dessert. Our new friend has been vegan for a couple of years, and I asked her if there were any desserts that she particularly missed since going vegan. Her response was "You mean, like cream pies?" Viola!

banana dance! 

With that, I decided to make a banana cream pie. I've only tasted a banana cream pie once before -- when I very first went vegan (16+ years ago!), Mr VE&T told me that he loved banana cream pie and so I made him one. I don't remember anything else about that pie, and I was ready to make some new B.C.P memories!

woooohoooo! getting ready to make a banana cream pie! 

I looked at several recipes online, and decided on Namely Marley's recipe for Vegan Banana Cream Pie. About a month ago, So Delicious sent me a handful of super special VIP coupons for free products. So Delicious has a special place in my heart because I've been enjoying their goodies (especially their soy-based ice cream) since way back in my early vegan days - and since they were called "Soy Delicious." I used two of my coupons to buy some ingredients for my special pie - the culinary coconut milk was a new-to-me product, and that CocoWhip is a product I already love. The culinary coconut milk was great -- it's super thick and I even cut open the package with a pair of scissors to be sure that I got it all out of the little carton! I used the CocoWhip to top the pie (instead of the coconut whipped topping in the recipe) - I put it into a frosting bag with a big, fat piping tip and smooshed it on in cute little dollops. I love the CocoWhip and knew it would be easy and perfect and delicious!

this is the inside of the pie: baked cookie crust, one layer of cream filling, two sliced bananas arranged on top -- then the rest of the cream filling was poured on top, and then the whipped topping, and then the decorative bananas. And then we ate it! 

Of course I was naughty and changed up the recipe a little bit. I baked the cookie crust for 10 minutes at 350F, just to make it a little firmer and toastier. I also omitted the margarine and added an extra banana to the custard filling. Plus, I just used a lot of bananas - the recipe called for 2-3 bananas, but I used a total of 4 bananas. I mean, it's just gotta be full of bananas, right?

the finished creation. 

I was pretty proud of it. The mini chocolate chips were Mr. VE&T's idea!

I never got a fancy shot of the pie after we cut into it, which is just as well, because my filling really didn't firm up. I think it's quite possibly because of all the changes I made! Well, no worries, because it was Extremely Good. We all agreed that this was a super super yummy and delicious banana cream pie and that even if it was a little sloppy, that was okay with all of us. It was so okay, in fact, that I came home with an empty pie dish, ha ha! I think that means it was a hit.

quality banana time