For Crust:
6 tb Unsalted butter — at room
Temperature
1/4 c Sugar
1 sm Egg — beaten slightly
1 c All-purpose flour
2/3 c Finely chopped toasted
Almonds
1/8 ts Baking powder
1/8 ts Salt
For Filling:
2 tb Water
1 ts Unflavored gelatin
1 c Milk
1 Vanilla bean — split
Lengthwise
3 lg Egg yolks
1/3 c Sugar
1 tb Cornstarch
1 3/4 c Whipping cream — chilled
1/3 c Powdered sugar
3 Bananas — thinly sliced
Crust: Cream butter and sugar in processor until smooth. Add flour,
almonds, baking powder and salt and process just until combined. Gather
dough into a ball, flatten into a disk and refrigerate 1 hour in plastic
wrap. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Let stand briefly at room
temperature to soften before continuing.)
Press dough into 9″ glass pie plate, trimming excess even with edge of
dish. Crimp edge decoratively. Refrigerate 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350x. Line crust with foil. Fill with dried beans or pie
weights. Bake 12 minutes. Remove beans and foil and bake until crust is
set and edges are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer to rack and
cool.
Filling: Pour water into small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over. Let stand 10
minutes to soften. Pour milk into medium saucepan. Scrape seed from
vanilla bean into milk; add bean. Bring to simmer. Whisk yolks, sugar, and
cornstarch in medium bowl until thick. Gradually whisk in hot milk. Return
mixture to saucepan and cook over medium heat until mixture just begins to
boil and thicken, whisking constantly, about 3 minutes. Add softened
gelatin and stir to dissolve. Strain mixture into medium bowl. Press
plastic wrap onto surface of pastry cream and chill until cool, about 30
minutes.
Using electric mixer, beat cream and powdered sugar in a large bowl to
stiff peaks. Carefully fold 1 1/2 c whipped cream into pastry cream. Fold
in bananas. Spoon mixture into crust. Spoon remaining whipped cream into
pastry bag with medium star tip. Pipe whipped cream over filling, covering
completely. Chill until set, at least 3 hours and up to 6 hours.
Yields
8 Servings