Meow Recipes

Thursday, July 9, 2020

Two-Person Banana Cream Pies

Banana Cream Pie is making a comeback in my life (and yours) starting today.

A few years ago my friend Melissa published a cookbook (affiliate link) with a really epic banana cream pie recipe in it. I made it once, I made it five times, I made it when no one else was home to share it with me because that’s the kind of monster I am? and that’s the brief history how I ended up on the runaway train of thick and cold and creamy banana cream pie fandom.

Being that I only have two adults and a baby in my house, and being that banana cream pie doesn’t really keep well as leftovers, I have stumbled into a new routine of making these two-person banana cream pies in ramekins or jars. Can’t exactly call them mini, because even though they are meant to serve just one person, these pies are deep-dish level big boys that are packed to the brim with graham cracker crust, banana slices, creamy banana filling, and whipped cream.

The crust here is a graham cracker crust because, well, it’s just better.

The ingredients are standard – milk, eggs, butter, cornstarch, sugar, vanilla, a roasted banana for extra sweetness.

And when you bake your crust and roast your banana at the same time, this is what you’ll be gifted with:

Ingredients for banana cream pie on a sheet pan.

A SMILING BANANA FACE WEARING PIE CRUST GLASSES!

I mean, if that isn’t a sign from the universe.

These are not fancy and very forgiving, although they do require a tiny amount of advance planning due to the 2-3 hour chill time. I know, I normally don’t ask this of any of us. YOU CAN DO IT. For all that is creamy, thick, sweet, and wonderful, you really owe it to yourself.

Low maintenance, high enjoyment, unfussy banana cream pies in jars are yours for the taking.

This recipe is modified from The Minimalist Kitchen banana cream pie recipe!

Two-Person Banana Cream Pies

Author: Lindsay
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 2, very generously

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Description

Two-Person Banana Cream Pies! Low maintenance, high enjoyment, unfussy banana cream pies in jars are yours for the taking.

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust

4 graham crackers, crushed
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Banana Cream Pie Filling

1 banana + a few extra banana slices for layering (ideally 1 1/2 bananas)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons whole milk
1 tablespoon butter
tiny splash of vanilla

Instructions

Video

Crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine graham crackers, sugar, and butter. Press into two 8-ounce ramekins. Place on a baking sheet with one unpeeled banana. Bake for 10 minutes, until the banana is soft with a black peel, and the crusts are set.
Filling: Without heat, whisk sugar, cornstarch, salt, and egg yolk together in a small saucepan. Slowly whisk in the milk until mostly smooth. Move your pan to the stove and bring to a low simmer over low heat, whisking frequently (it will get a little lumpy – that’s okay). Continue to heat gently for a few minutes until you get a nice thick pudding consistency. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.
Blend: Transfer the cooled pudding to a blender or food processor with the roasted banana. Blend until mostly smooth (this should help the filling loosen up a little bit).
Assemble: Top the baked crusts with slices of banana. Pour the filling over the top. Cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours until set. Top with whipped cream and dive into that cold, sweet, creamy goodness.

Equipment

Notes

The equipment section above contains affiliate links to products we use and love!

Category: Dessert
Method: No Bake
Cuisine: American

Keywords: banana cream pie, banana pudding, homemade pudding, pie jars, single serve dessert

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Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Lemongrass Vermicelli Salad

Vermicelli salad in a bowl with sauce spooned over top.

Holy moly. This salad is a summertime flavor showstopper for your mouth, and it’s all thanks to the simple but incredibly lime-and-lemongrass-based sauce that just slips all over the plate, coating every bite and putting flavor into every last delicious corner and crevice.

And as a person who really enjoys big, savory-sweet, nuanced flavor, even though I always always question the fish sauce, I really cannot say enough how much I love this salad.

Like most of us, my favorite kinds of salads are based around noodles. In this case, thin, delicate skinny little rice noodles called vermicelli. Team carb salads!

I also love it when salads are beautiful:

Vermicelli salad in a bowl with tofu and herbs.

But listen – I also live a real life where I don’t always have time to FIND something to eat for before 3pm much less assemble beautiful salads? Know what I mean?

So I wanted to give you two options for this salad.

Pretty Method: that’s what’s pictured above.
Meal Prep Method: that’s what I most often use and it’s what’s pictured below.

With the Meal Prep Method, we cut our losses with a slightly less beautiful bowl, but we embrace some advance assembly and have a really quick way to throw a meal together come lunchtime.

Or breakfast? And I’m not just saying this: I woke up the next day and craved this salad for breakfast.

I hope you love your lemongrass-loaded, sauce-slicked summer showstopper as much as I did.

This recipe was inspired by a conversation about Vietnamese Bun Bo Xao (thanks, Ann!) as well as this fresh new recipe from I Am A Food Blog which is actually what I WANTED to make but then kind of ran out of time due to toddler life and had to find something similar… but also easier. And that’s how we ended up here!