Crustless Banana Cream Pie Cups
Servings 4
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 2 large bananas
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup corn starch
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1.5 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ½ cup whipping cream
- Optional: 1 large banana for topping
Instructions
Items Needed:
- A medium-sized bowl
- Four ramekins (about 1 to 1.5 cups in size).
- A small sharp knife
- A large sauce pan
- Measuring cups (for sugar and starch)
- A liquid measuring cup (for milk)
- A medium to large whisk
- A hand or stand mixer
Directions:
- Separate three eggs, putting the yolks into a medium-sized bowl. Either toss or save the egg whites if you can use them (they are not needed for the recipe). Set aside.
- Take out the four ramekins. Peel two bananas and using a small sharp knife, cut them into coins that are about ¼ inch thick. You can cut them over the ramekins, letting each the pieces fall into the ramekin. Roughly half a banana should go into each ramekin. Set aside.
- In a large sauce pan, place the sugar and corn starch. Stir with a whisk to combine.
- Gradually pour the milk into the sauce pan, stirring with the whisk to mix thoroughly as you pour.
- Place the sauce pan on a stove burner and turn to medium-high heat. Stir the milk mixture continuously with the whisk until it starts to boil, which should take between roughly 5 minutes. If you don’t stir the mixture continuously it will scorch and you will wind up with brown flecks.
- Once the mixture starts boiling, keep cooking and stirring for 2 more minutes. Remove the pan from the burner.
- Pour 1 cup of milk mixture into the liquid measuring cup. Slightly beat the eggs, then slowly pour the cup of milk mixture into the eggs, stirring as you go. Once the eggs and milk mixture are combined, pour it into the large sauce pan and stir to thoroughly combine. (Don’t pour the eggs straight into the pan, as the mixture will be too hot and will cook the eggs, giving you little pieces of hard egg yolk.) Remove the pan from the burner.
- Add the vanilla and butter to the sauce pan and mix together with the whisk until both are incorporated.
- Pour the milk mixture into the ramekins in even amounts. There should be enough to cover the banana pieces.
- Place pieces of plastic wrap on top of the mixture in the ramekins, making sure the plastic touches the full surface so a tough skin doesn’t form on the top. Stick the ramekins into the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours, or overnight. (Alternatively you can place the ramekins in the freezer for about an hour, then stick them in the fridge until they’re ready to serve.)
- Before serving, pour the whipping cream into a medium size bowl and beat with a hand or stand mixer (or by hand if you’re ambitious) until it stiffens.
- Take the ramekins out of the refrigerator and place a dollar of whipped cream onto the top of each one. Or spread the whipped cream into a thin layer, and using the extra optional banana, cut it into thin coins and place in a single layer on top of the whipped cream. If you want to be fancy you can also spoon the whipped cream into a pastry bag and pipe the whipped cream onto each ramekin.
- Serve with a spoon and enjoy!
Notes
- This dessert is very rich and while the portion size isn’t that huge (about 1 cup), you could easily split the mixture into six ramekins instead of four. If you do so, you may want to use 3 bananas and still put half a banana in each ramekin.
- When you’re stirring the milk mixture as it’s boiling, be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan as you go. If you don’t, there will be bits of burned mixture and you will get brown flecks. They’re edible, but will throw off the texture and creaminess of the dessert.
- When you’re stirring the milk mixture as it’s boiling, be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan as you go. If you don’t, there will be bits of burned mixture and you will get brown flecks. They’re edible, but will throw off the texture and creaminess of the dessert.