Black-Bottom Banana Cream Pie

By MooK

Ingredients

• 2 boxes (5.3 oz each) shortbread cookies
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, 3 Tbsp melted and 2 Tbsp cold
• 3 oz bittersweet chocolate, divided
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 4 large egg yolks
• 3 tsp vanilla, divided
• 1 cup heavy cream, chilled
• 2 large bananas
• 1 Tbsp confectioners' sugar

Preparation

Step 1

Place the shortbread cookies, along with a pinch of salt, into the bowl of a food processor. Process in long pulses until finely ground and beginning to stick to the sides. Add the melted butter and pulse just until incorporated. Transfer the crumbs to a 9-inch pie plate and press evenly into the bottom and up the sides. Place the pie shell in the freezer until needed.

Coarsely chop 2 oz of the chocolate and set aside in a small bowl. In a heavy saucepan, whisk together the milk, granulated sugar, cornstarch and remaining salt. Turn the heat to medium-high and whisk in the egg yolks. Continue whisking until the custard boils and is very thick, about 5 minutes. Remove the custard from the heat. Immediately measure out 1/2 cup and add to the bowl of chocolate. Let sit while you whisk the remaining 2 Tbsp of cold butter into the custard still in the saucepan. Stir 2 tsp of vanilla into the saucepan and transfer to a heatproof bowl. Refrigerate until well chilled, stirring occasionally, about 2 hours.

Meanwhile, stir the chocolate and custard together in the small bowl. Stir in 1 Tbsp of cream and 1 tsp vanilla. Remove the pie shell from the freezer and spread the chocolate custard across the bottom. Refrigerate until firm.

Cut the bananas into 1/4 inch slices and layer across the chocolate custard. Spoon the vanilla custard on top of the bananas and smooth the top. Refrigerate 2 hours, or until set.

Whip the remaining cream with the confectioners' sugar until it forms soft peaks. Spread on top of the custard and refrigerate until ready to serve. Before serving, use a vegetable peeler to shave curls off of the remaining 1 oz of chocolate onto the top of the pie.