Dairy Free Banana Cream Pie with Coconut Whipped Cream

Okay, you guys, I gotta tell you something: If you are trying to eat better to improve your health but you don't want to skip the good stuff, I have an amazing recipe for you. 

It comes from a book called "Thug Kitchen - eat like you give a f*ck". It's a vegetarian cookbook unlike any I've ever seen, mostly because there is a lot of swearing in it. You might be offended by it, but I think it's awesome, because I have a potty mouth myself, and because their recipes are AMAZING.

Let me show you the banana cream pie I made, adapted from Thug Kitchen.

Granted, it's not the prettiest pie in the world, but it's so tasty! My kids swooned over it, and the reason I don't have great photos of it is because it got devoured in a millisecond by my whole family.

I've been grieving over the loss of dairy in my diet. I mean: no cheese??? Whipping cream???? I have a soft spot for whipping cream. So when I learned that you can whip up coconut milk, and it tastes even better than the real thing, my life changed.

Wanna try it?

Here you go:

Banana Cream Pie with Coconut Whipped Cream

 

First bake Crust all by itself:

1 1/2 cups flour (I used 1 cup white and 1/2 cup whole wheat)

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup refined coconut oil (it needs to be solid, not liquid)

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 to 3 Tablespoons almond milk or oat milk or soy milk (more if you use some whole wheat flour because it absorbs more moisture)

Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Oil a pie plate.

In a food processor like Cuisinart or by hand, mix together flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Mix it til it looks like coarse sand.

Add olive oil and 2 Tablespoons almond/oat/soy milk until it dough comes together. Add more milk if it still looks dry. Now press that dough into your pie plate, covering the bottom and the sides.

Line the inside of the crust with foil, and put dried beans on top of that til it's half way filled up to the rim. This is a process that bakes the crust correctly. I know it's weird, but just do it. 

Put it in the oven for 12 minutes. Then take it out of the oven, remove the foil and beans, and put it back into the oven for another 12 or 15 minutes. Let it cool.

Make the Vanilla Custard Filling:

1/4 cup cornstarch or arrowroot powder

1/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 can coconut milk (13.5 ounces)

1 cup almond milk or oat milk or soy milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 large ripe bananas

In a saucepan, whisk together cornstarch, sugar and salt. Whisk 1/3 cup of the coconut milk, and mix it well so that there are no clumps in it. Now whisk in  all the coconut milk that's left over, and the almond/oat/soy milk, and also the vanilla.

Now you are making the custard. Put the pot over medium-high heat and stir continuously for about five minutes until you see bubbles and it gets gravy-like consistency. 

Turn the heat down to medium-low, so the mixture can thicken, while you keep scraping the bottom and sides with a spatula to avoid pudding skin. You do this for 7 to 10 minutes until it looks like firmer pudding. I did this, and it wouldn't thicken up, so I just added some more cornstarch.

Slice the bananas into 1/2-inch pieces and put them into the crust, on the bottom and up the sides. Pour the warm custard on top of all that.

Cover and put it in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight, but good luck on that, because that pie will be gone before you know it.

Make the whipping cream

1 can of coconut milk (cold)

2 Tablespoons powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

This takes some planning! Put a can of coconut in the fridge for a whole day or overnight. It needs to be nice and cold. 

 

Put a bowl and beaters of a mixer into the freezer for 15 minutes to have it all really cold.

Take the coconut milk out of the fridge and DON'T SHAKE IT UP! Scoop all the solid white stuff of the coconut milk out into a bowl, and leave the liquid at the bottom to use for another thing like smoothies.

 

Add 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and beat it all on medium-high speed for one or two minutes.

 

 

Now eat it!!!!

It takes some doing, this pie... But it's worth it. Let me know how it goes for you!