Banana Cream Pie with Chocolate Chocho Crust

By: Erica Lovelace
Recipe adopted from Hummingbird High

Bananas and chocolate are a classic combination, and this delicious pie brings vitamins, minerals, fiber, amino acids, and clean plant protein into the mix. Fermented bananas make this sweet treat a gut-friendly food.

Ingredients for Banana Cream filling: 

• 3 ripe bananas*
• 1 cup of heavy cream
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 cup of granulated sugar or substitute coconut sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for the whipped cream mixture
• 3 tablespoons of cornstarch
• 2 tablespoon of unflavored gelatin powder
• ½ teaspoon of kosher salt
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons of water
• 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• ½ teaspoon of yellow food coloring (optional)

*Please note: this recipe calls for REALLY ripe bananas. I let my bananas nearly go black on my countertop and then store them in a clean container in my fridge for an additional 3 days to get the most caramelized banana flavor.

Ingredients for Chocolate Chocho crust:

• ½ cup of Mikuna Superfood Chocho (Cacao)
• ½ cup of cocoa powder
• 1 package of regular Graham crackers
• ½ cup (8 tablespoons) of melted butter or plant-based butter of choice
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons of sugar or substitute coconut sugar

Instructions for the crust:

1. Pulse the Mikuna Superfood Chocho Cacao, cocoa powder, graham crackers, salt, sugar and melted butter until it forms loose crumbs that stick together if you press between your fingers.
2. Coat your pie pan with baking spray. Load the crumbs into the pan and press them to the edge of the pan in an even layer.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and completely cool.

Instructions for the filling:

1. Blend the bananas and milk together into a homogenous mixture. Then, add the sugar, eggs (one at a time), salt, and cornstarch.
2. Heat the mixture in a saucepan over medium low heat. Bring to a boil and, once it’s at boiling point, continue to whisk vigorously for about 2 minutes to fully cook out the starch. It should be as thick as glue. You’re just doing this to cook the egg yolks and the starch out.
3. With the two tablespoons of water, bloom the gelatin on the top of the water and let sit for 10 minutes.
4. Add the cooked mixture, bloomed gelatin and food coloring back into the blender. Blend to distribute the gelatin and place into a container to completely cool. This can even wait to cool overnight alongside the crust as long as it’s covered to prevent becoming stale.
5. When you’re ready to assemble the pie, whip heavy cream together with the remaining two tablespoons of sugar.
6. Gently fold in the whipped cream to the pie filling mixture. Return this to the pie shell and let set in the fridge for at least 2 hours, if not overnight.
7. Slice and enjoy!