Nuts About Banana Cream Pie

Nuts About Banana Cream Pie

9” deep dish pie crust, store bought For filling
8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, room temperature
14 packets Truvia™ natural sweetener
1/2 cup chunky, natural peanut butter, salted
1/2 cup fat free evaporated milk, divided into two portions
1/4 cup each
1 teaspoon powdered gelatin
2 medium size ripe bananas, about 2 cups
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsweetened toasted coconut, reserve 1/8 cup for garnish
1/8 cup roasted unsalted peanuts, as garnish

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Prick the bottom of the pie shell a dozen times with a fork. Bake in the oven, on the center rack, for 25 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through. Allow the crust to cool completely before filling, about 30 minutes. The crust can also be baked the day before and stored at room temperature, until ready to fill. If you could not find pre-toasted coconut, you can also place your coconut into the oven, and bake for 5 minutes, or until golden brown.

Place 1/4 cup of the evaporated milk into a small pot. Whisk in the gelatin and allow to sit for 3 minutes to soften. Place the pot on the stove over medium heat and cook, while whisking, until hot and the gelatin has melted. Do not bring the mixture to a boil. Transfer the hot milk to a mixing bowl, add in the other 1/4 cup of evaporated milk. Place this into the freezer for 10 minutes to chill before beating.

In the meantime, combine the cream cheese and peanut butter in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for one minute to incorporate. Add in the Truvia™ natural sweetener, and salt. Beat for an additional minute. Set aside.

After 10 minutes, remove the evaoprated milk from the freezer. The edges of the milk should be starting to set. Beat chilled milk for 4-5 minutes with an electric mixer on high speed. It should now look like whipped cream.

Spoon the peanut mixture into the milk and mix on medium speed for 1 minute to blend. Add half of the toasted coconut, 1/8 cup, into the pie filling and mix until combined. Spoon a third of the mixture into the baked pie crust and smooth out, to cover the bottom of the crust. Peel and slice the bananas into 1/4″ thick slices. Top the peanut mixture with all of the bananas. Cover bananas with rest of the peanut cream. To garnish, top the remaining toasted coconut and peanuts.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour or overnight.

Recipe by: Marissa Churchill