Banana Cream Pie

Ingredients:
¾ cups of Sugar
½ cup of Water
¼ cup Light Corn Syrup
¾ cup of Heavy Cream
2 tbsp of Butter at Room Temp
¼ tsp of Salt
½ tsp of Vanilla Extract, optional
3 bananas, sliced
1 Store Bought 9” graham cracker crust (I have this recipe myself)
1 cup Whipped Cream

Substitute for Corn Syrup

**For each cup of light corn syrup in a recipe, substitute 1 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup water. For each cup of dark corn syrup, substitute 1 cup of packed brown sugar and 1/4 cup water.

For the pastry cream:
5 Egg Yolks
½ cup Plus 2 Tbsp of Sugar
2.5 Tbsp Cornstarch
½ tsp Vanilla Extract
1 ½ cups Milk, scalded (scalded just means below boiling point)
Zest of 1 Large Orange
1 tsp Unsalted Butter

Process,

For the Pastry Cream:
1) In a large bowl whisk together the egg yolk and sugar until thick and pale, about 1 minute. Add the cornstarch and whisk to combine.

2) Slowly add the scalded milk and whisk to combine. Pour this batter into a medium saucepan and cook on low heat whisking constantly until the cream thickens. Once this mixture has thickened turn the heat off and add the orange zest, cognac and butter, whisk to melt the butter in the hot custard. Pour the custard into a bowl and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the custard and refrigerate until cold.
For the Pie:

3) To make the caramel, in a large non stick pan combine the first 3 ingredients, cook over medium low until the sugar dissolve without stirring ever! Just swirl the pan around. Once the sugar ahs dissolved, turn the heat to high and let it bubble away until it turns a deep amber color, about 10 minutes. Turn the heat down to low at this point and add the warm heavy cream slowly. Be careful because it will bubble vigorously. Keep whisking until everything is combined and turn the heat off. Add the butter, salt and vanilla and whisk in until the butter melts. Set aside to cool completely.

4) Add the caramel sauce to a large bowl reserving about 1/3 of it to drizzle over the top. Add the sliced bananas to the caramel sauce and place this mixture at the bottom of your pie crust. Add the pastry cream and smooth out the top.

5) Top it all off with the whipped cream and place it in the fridge to set for about 3 hours.

Serve with the remaining caramel sauce.

**Source LVitale