Bake 2.22: Banoffee Mille-Feuille

This is a fun one! I used 1/2 a recipe of puff pastry but you could use store bought puff pastry too, that would make this a pretty quick dessert that is very impressive. Mille-Feuille which sounds so fancy is layers of pastry and cream, with other things as desired. I was inspired by the classic UK banoffee pie and used caramel pastry cream and bananas in my layers. 

Ingredients
1/2 recipe puff pastry (I prefer this recipe)
3 ripe but not soft bananas

3 cups whole milk

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 corn starch

1 tablespoon flour

4 large egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

4 tablespoons salted butter, room temp

1/3 cup caramel sauce + a drizzle for the top

Start with the pastry cream. Heat 2 1/2 cups milk with the sugar in a saucepan. Whisk together the 1/2 cup remaining milk, corn starch, flour, and egg yolks. Once the sugar has completely dissolved, ladle a small amount into the corn starch mixture to temper. Pour all back into the saucepan and cook until thick, pudding like consistency. Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla, butter, and caramel sauce. Pour into a dish and cover with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap onto the surface to ensure no skin forms. Put in the fridge to cool!

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Roll the pastry to 11x14 on a silpat or parchment sheet. Slide onto a baking sheet. Prick the dough all over with a fork. Cover with another silpat or parchment sheet and a second baking sheet. This weight causes the pastry to cook flat and crispy, rather than puffing up like with the croissants. Bake for 18-20 minutes, and check the browning around 14 minutes in, you can remove the top sheet if needed to ensure the top browns nicely. Allow to cool. 

Now assembly! Chop 1 of the bananas and set aside. Slice the other two bananas if you want to be fancy and decorate the sides like I did, if not, just chop them and put them in the layers. Standing the slices up along the edges allowed me to put more pastry cream in the middle, just sayin'. 

Carefully cut your large sheet of pastry into three equal rectangles. I eyeballed the first one, then used it to cut the remaining two. Put one piece of pastry on your platter. Line the edges with half slices of bananas all the way around (they are a little sticky on the cut side so actually just stand up there on their own). Fill the center with pastry cream using an offset spatula to gently ease it up to the edges. Top with 1/2 the chopped banana. Add another layer of pastry, again with bananas along the edge, pastry cream in the middle, chopped bananas. Add the last layer of pastry. I decorated with a few remaining bananas slices and a drizzle of caramel. Ideally put it in the fridge for a few minutes before slicing, and then slice gently. YUM! 

Bake 2.15: Banana Pudding Meringue Pie

For this pie we went with the totally out of season banana. I wanted to punch up the banana flavor so steeped the milk for the custard with bananas before making the custard. With a cookie crust that isn't too sweet and a fluffy Italian meringue it is a treat!

Ingredients

Crust
55 Nilla Wafers (yes, count them out, if you get a regular sized box of them you will have a handful left for snacking or decorating the top of your pie, as you will see we had none for decoration because they promptly went into the toddlers mouth)
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter

Custard

2 ripe bananas (+2 more for assembly - so 4 total bananas, unless they are small, if they are small use 5 total, 2 1/2 for custard and 2 1/2 for assembly)

4 tablespoons butter

2 1/2 cups whole milk

6 large egg yolks - save 4 of the whites for the meringue

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Meringue 

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

4 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

First prep your custard, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large saucepan. Once melted add two bananas cut into 1 inch slices. Cook the bananas for 3-4 minutes until just browned. Add the milk, bring to a boil, remove from the heat, cover, and allow to sit for 30-40 minutes. 

While that sits, make the crust. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Pulse the cookies in a food processor, or smash them with a rolling pin inside a gallon bag. Pulse or mix in the flour, sugar, salt. Add the melted butter and mix until it comes together. Spray your pie plate with non stick spray and dump the crust mix in. Press it into the bottom and up the sides. I like to use a measuring cup so it is even, and to help it not stick, spray the back of the measuring cup with the non stick cooking spray. Works like a charm. Bake for 10 minutes until just fragrant. Allow to cool.

Then finish that custard! Whisk your egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and salt together in a large saucepan. Strain the milk into the mixture, removing the banana and tossing those. I learned in this process that if you smush the bananas at all then your custard will come out an unappetizing greyish color, do not smush on the bananas! Cook the mixture until it resembles pudding, target 180 degrees, whisking continuously. Remove from the heat and whisk in the remaining 3 tablespoons butter and the vanilla. 

Place the custard in a bowl or dish and cover with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap into the surface of the custard so you don't get a weird skin on top. Place in the fridge to chill completely.

Next the meringue! Heat the sugar and water in a saucepan until it reaches 240 degrees. While that is heating, beat the egg whites on medium in a stand mixer. Once foamy, add the cream of tartar. Continue whipping the egg whites until you have stiff peaks. If the eggs finish before the sugar is heated all the way up, don't turn them completely off, set them to the lowest mixer setting so they keep moving while they wait their turn. Once the sugar is up to temp, set the mixer to medium and slowly slowly stream the sugar in. Once it is all in, turn the mixer to high and whip until the volume you desire.

Now assembly time! Line the bottom of the cooled crust with two sliced bananas. If you are not going to be serving the pie directly, dip the banana slices in lemon juice or orange juice to prevent them from browning. Top with the custard, smooth it out. Then top with the meringue. You can leave that all white and fluffy or use a torch or the broiler to toast the top. Serious YUM!