It seemed like such a good idea: lining the crust of a banana cream pie with white chocolate. And it came from an impeccable source: Rose Levy Beranbaum, one of the most revered baking goddesses of all time.
So I adapted the idea to my own banana cream pie for a dinner party, only to find, to my embarrassment, that the hostess and her guests were silently yearning for sledgehammers to cut through their pie crusts.
I guess I must have executed Rose’s plan badly. I’m still mystified, though. I thought I did exactly what she said: melt 3 ounces of white chocolate and spread it in the bottom of a fully baked pie crust. Chill it before adding the filling. But although the pie tasted really wonderful, the difficulty cutting through the bottom crust was a hands-down deal-killer. My fellow dinner partyers were endlessly gracious about it, but we all knew we had a failed pie on our hands. Embarrassing!
Nonetheless, in full disclosure, and in the spirit on ongoing inquiry, CurvyMama will share with you the humiliating details.
I started with a fully baked 9-inch crust. All good so far. [Whew!]
The white-chocolate lining seemed to go so well; just look:
What could be wrong, huh? I chilled the chocolate-lined crust, and moved on to fold about a half-cup of whipped cream into my pastry cream and fill the pie…
… and piped the whipped cream onto the top…
I sprinkled shaved white chocolate around the center as a crowning glory. And I was all proud of my white-chocolate-banana-cream pie. I was really looking forward to seeing the happy faces of my pie-eaters.
And they swore it was delicious. But seeing them ever-so-politely try to wrestle their forks through the bottom crust made me want to throw myself through the plate glass window in the dining room.
Note to self: next time, try a firm white-chocolate ganache (chocolate melted in hot cream, then cooled) rather than melted-then-cooled pure chocolate. How could it have gone so wrong for me when it went so right for Rose?
[sigh.]
Hey there CurvyMama,
I was just catching up with your blog. You have had a very busy year! Thought I would comment on this one. We coat the bottom crusts of our cream pies with chocolate.and/or white chocolate. We just brush it on very thinly with a pastry brush. It’s thin enough that you still can see a little crust through the brush strokes. We too have seen the dangers of getting it on too thick and that is a topic covered when training new pie makers. It may be one of the very few instances where more chocolate is not the answer. Happy pie making. Craig – Hoosier Mama Pie Co.
Hey, Craig! I am so glad you are reading the blog and taking the time to offer helpful comments! I definitely learned that lesson the hard way, and will go much easier on the white chocolate next time. I can’t wait until I can get an excuse to get back to Chicago and have five more slices of Hoosier Mama Pie!