Let them eat pie!

Yes, yes! I know. I still haven't taken in my laptop. I'm procrastinating.

But I have important things to share...like pie.

At the risk of copying those who have blogged before me about pie, let me just say that my intention wasn't to be a copycat. Sometime before Christmas I bought premade frozen pie shells with the idea of making a filling for them and serve them to dinner guests. So, when I learned that I was hosting dinner for my folks and my grandparents, I decided this would be the way to go.

I decided on a banana cream filling because I had lots of ripe bananas and all the ingredients, and because it didn't require a top crust. It wasn't until I took the pie crust from the box and tried to slip it into my glass plate did I realise that the 9" crust wasn't fitting my 9" plate - how disappointing!! Right then and there I decided I'd make my own crust, filling and meringue from scratch.

I started with the pastry, but learned very quickly into the process, that I had no idea what I was doing! This is, basically, the first time I've attempted pie pastry without supervision and it failed miserably. My lifeline when it comes to baking is usually to call my mother or my grandmother, but since the pie was supposed to be a surprise (sort of) for both of them, I decided to call Charlotte instead. And really, in a baking crisis, Charlotte is the one you want to talk to! She tried to troubleshoot, and when that didn't work, she deemed the crust a loss (and the pastry recipe a dud!) and suggested the alternative - a graham cracker crust.

Perfect! A graham cracker crust it is. The filling was easy though a bit labour intensive. Apparently there are a gazillion ways to make a banana cream filling. I chose the recipe from my Purity Flour Cookbook - an old-fashioned stove-top method that involves scalding milk and stirring lots until the vanilla cream mixture thickens. I actually enjoyed the process.And the rest of the pie went smoothly! I was surprised at how easy the meringue was. I thought for sure it wouldn't work, but it did! And the result was a very pleasant surprise for me, and for my dinner guests.

...And two pieces left !