No Bake Banana Pie

When I was doing my Thanksgiving shopping a few weeks ago I came upon some pre-made pie crusts.  I didn’t happen to need any, and they weren’t on my list either, but I couldn’t help but sneak them into my basket.  I had seen the graham cracker crust before but they also had shortbread and chocolate!  I felt inspired.

The other day I came across the crusts in my pantry and decided I needed to make one.  I went digging for some recipes and happened to find this.  Yum!  I threw it together in minutes…which means no fuss, no hassle and instant gratification :)

Ingredients

1 6 oz pre-made shortbread crumb crust (like this)

Filling

1/2 block (4 oz) of cream cheese, softened at room temperature

1/4 cup of unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

1 1/2 cups of sifted powered sugar (sift then measure), set aside 3 tablespoons

1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

4 small bananas

Juice of one lemon

Topping

1 cup of heavy whipping cream

The 3-tablespoons of reserved sifted powdered sugar

1/4 – 1/2 cup of chopped pecans to garnish

Hershey’s syrup, to drizzle

Preparation

Set aside 3 tablespoons of the sifted powered sugar.  Beat together the cream cheese and butter until creamy.  Mix on medium low, adding the powdered sugar (except for the reserved tablespoons) and cream, beginning and ending with the powered sugar, until mixed in well.  Stir in the vanilla; set aside.

Cut the bananas in to thin slices, about 1/4 inch, and toss very lightly in a small bowl with the lemon juice.

Place half of the cream cheese mixture into the bottom of the fully cooled pie crust and carefully spread it out all over the bottom of the crust.  An offset spatula works especially well for this.  Using a slotted spoon to drain, transfer bananas and add them to the top of the cream cheese mixture.  Place the rest of the cream cheese filling on top of the bananas and carefully spread it out into an even layer.

Beat the whipped cream in a mixer until it begins to foam up.  Gradually add the reserved powered sugar and beat until fully whipped and soft peaks are formed.

Spread the whipped cream topping evenly over the top of the second cream cheese layer.  Sprinkle the top with chopped pecans and then drizzle with the chocolate syrup.

Recipe slightly adapted from Deep South Dish

When the pie was finished I went outside to take some pictures and…

Which turned into…

And continued with…

But ended in…

And to be honest…nothing else that I have to say after that matters…Harper said it all :)