I made two pies for my dad’s 85^th birthday dinner on Sunday. He requested a lemon pie and then Connor and I decided on a banana pie. Not any old banana cream pie, but a decadent Bananas Foster Pie – a custardy caramel luscious pie!

A little history here: Even though I hate to bake, I’ve always made my pie crusts from scratch. I guess it’s some sort of cooking instructor-pride thing. Now that I think of it, it’s stupid. I also almost never use cake mix either – nearly always making cakes from scratch. Again – kinda idiotic!

I mean, IF I loved to bake, then it would make sense to go all out, but since I don’t, what the heck?!?

Anyhow, Connor works in the pantry station at a high-end casual restaurant – meaning he makes the salads, condiments, the Charcuterie Boards, the desserts, etc. When he was over a couple of weeks back and we were talking about Dad’s birthday dinner, I mentioned the pie. He asked me if I wanted him to do the crust. What? YES! Of course, I do!

So Connor came over mid-week to help me with the two pie crusts. It turns out that at his work, they use Pillsbury’s roll out pie crusts (2 to a package) from the refrigerator case.

Who Knew? The fillings for the pies are made from scratch, but not the crusts. I put aside my snobbery and in doing so, discovered that they were excellent, much more consistent and reliable than mine, and “easy as pie” to use. And who was the genius who made up that saying? It’s stupid too!

Let’s change that saying to  – “they were easier than pie!” Not “easy as” but Easier!

Can you tell that baking makes me crabby?!?

The best part? Connor is a master crimper. Way better than me. Call me impressed. I’m very proud and pleased with my boy and his pie crimping skills! It’s fun discovering all he’s learning and finding out what I can get him to do for me!

Something else – I’ve decided to try to add a video or two to this post. Not sure how well it will work or if you find it helpful or not, so let me know what you think and if you’d like me to add more video content to future posts.

So back to this pie. The crust is blind-baked, which can be done a couple of days before, wrapped well in plastic, and refrigerated.  Also, I forgot to sprinkle the top with the pecans. You should make sure you don’t forget. Finally, it should be topped (sweetened whipped cream, caramelized bananas, AND pecans) at the last minute and you might want to enjoy it with a fun rum cocktail! That last part is just an extravagant suggestion and up to your discretion. Enjoy and Happy Birthday, Dad! xoxo [Read more →]