TWD: Banana Cream Pie & Orange Cream Tart

Many thanks to Amy of Sing for Your Supper, who chose Banana Cream Pie for this week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe. Who doesn't love banana cream pie? (All of you banana cream pie haters, just shush ;-) )

I've made enough pie now that it doesn't strike fear in my heart like it used to. Still, I'm far from an expert.

I have a sneaking suspicion that I need to try a different pie crust recipe (sorry, Dorie! it's me, not you!). I simply can not get the edge of the crust to hold it's shape and not shrink. Following the advice of long-time pie bakers, I made sure to have plenty of dough at the edge. I chilled the dough after rolling it out and before placing it in the pan. I took extreme care not to stretch the dough while I was putting it in the pan. I chilled the crusts in their pans for over an hour before popping them in the oven.

And yet, I got shrunken, shriveled crusts...


Fortunately, the crust isn't the star of this show, the filling is. This is not your typical creamy vanilla-flavored banana cream pie filling. It's more the exotic cousin of your standard filling, with brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. It was the color of pale peanut butter.


It thought it tasted fantastic. I could have been easily satisfied naming it cinnamon pudding and calling it a day.

But, with the pie shells already made, it wasn't much more effort to transform it into pie...








I guess it's time for a confession. I really don't like making whipped cream. It's just sooooo much easier to grab mother's little helper out of the freezer...


Don't hate me!


I also made the Orange Cream Tart this week. I made a quarter of the recipe and it fit perfectly into a mini pie shell.


This was almost the same dessert as The Most Extraordinary Lemon Cream Tart, with the juice being different, of course, as well as the addition of gelatin.


It was fabulous and tasted like a pie version of a Creamsicle. You can find the recipe HERE at the Brown-Eyed Baker's blog.

I really enjoyed both of these pies and would be hard pressed to pick a favorite. All in all, they made for a good baking week.

OK, see you next week, when we start a chocolate triple header.