Banana Cream Pie

Add the milk to a large saucepan set over medium high heat. Cook the milk until it just starts to boil, then turn off the heat. This process is called scalding.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, and salt.

Add the sugar mixture in with the scalded milk, and whisk constantly while heating it over medium heat. Cook until slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes.

In a medium bowl, place the egg yolks and whisk together. Temper the yolks by stirring in a couple of tablespoons of the hot milk mixture to the yolks while whisking constantly. Do this once more with about ¼ cup of the milk mixture. Once combined, slowly pour the yolks into the hot milk mixture. Cook for two minutes, or until the mixture has thickened up even more.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the butter and 2 teaspoons of the vanilla extract.

Allow to cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes, or until lukewarm.

Once the mixture has cooled, start assembling your pie. Get your cooked pie crust, place a layer of sliced bananas, then pour in half of your cooled vanilla pudding mixture. Repeat with one more layer of bananas and pudding.

Cover the pie with plastic wrap and place in the fridge. Allow to chill for at least one hour, but overnight is ideal.

In the meantime, make the whipped cream. Whip the chilled cream in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer on low for a few seconds, and then raise to medium and whip for 1 minute. When the cream has somewhat thickened, add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Continue whipping, on medium high speed, until the cream has formed soft peaks. Be careful not to over whip it!

Scoop the mixture into a pastry bag and decoratively pipe out the cream onto the chilled pie. Or you can simply spoon the cream over the top.