Banana Cream Pie with Crystallized Ginger

Sitting on my counter is the just perfectly ripe bananas for something. I was reading my numerous cooking magazines and thought why not banana cream pie. Most recipes go for the Betty Crocker style. I thought why not add candied ginger and freshly grated nutmeg to the pastry cream.
Oh, my it really kicked it up several notches. This recipe is a spin off of a Bon Appetit's recipe.
You will need a prebaked pie shell. I always use my grandmothers recipe of never fail pie crust. It is one of my earlier posts.

After the shell has cooled paint the shell with 2 ounces of melted bittersweet chocolate and 2 teaspoons of oil. Let chill completely. The pastry cream is very easy. For my mother's day I received an electric hand blender. It makes quick work of whipping cream and mixing the pastry cream. I like a sauce pan with rounded corners too.

For the pastry cream: 3 large egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons of cornstarch, a pinch of salt, and 2 cups of whole milk are added to a sauce pan. Whisk until well incorporated. Place on the stove and bring to a rolling boil; whisking all the time. Remove from heat and add 2 teaspoons of vanilla, a lot of freshly grated nutmeg and 3 teaspoons of crystallized ginger. Cool until lukewarm and then add three sliced bananas. Refrigerated until cold.

For the whipped cream I added 1 pint of cream into a bowl. Whipped until thickened and then added powdered sugar and vanilla to taste. Whip your cream until well set.

With a piping bag add the whipped cream to the cold pie. Then toast some sweetened coconut and top pie.

Anisette Biscotti

The secret to delicate & fragile biscotti is to use cake flour. This is the best recipe I have found for biscotti. It will make about 50 biscotti depending on how thin you slice them. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

3 cups of cake flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
3 ounces of sliced almonds
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 cup of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 teaspooon of anise extract
1 teaspoon of anise seeds
3 eggs



Place the butter and the sugar in a mixer and mix until well incorporated. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Shape the batter into two logs and bake for thirty minutes. Then using a serrated knife, slice the baked logs on the diagonal every 1/2 inch. Bake for another twenty minutes longer, until the biscotti are dry and crisp !


Started a herb bed that has french tarragon, lemon thyme, thai basil, dill, rosemary, and all kinds of lovely herbs!