Banana Cream Pie

(makes one 9-inch shell). Mix flour, salt and sugar in food processor fitted without he steel blade. Scatter in butter pieces, tossing to coat butter. Cut butter into flour with five one-second pulses. Add shortening, continue cutting until there are no butter bits larger than a small pea (about four more one-second pulses). Turn mixture into medium bowl. Sprinkle 3 Tbsp water over the mixture. Using rubber spatula, fold in the water, then repeatedly press down on dough mixture with the flat side of the spatula until the dough comes together. Add up to 1 more Tbsp water if necessary. Shape dough into a ball with hands, then flatten into a disk. Dust with flour, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Generously sprinkle 18-inch work surface with 2 Tbsp graham cracker crumbs. Place chilled dough in center, sprinkle with a few more crumbs. Roll dough from center to edges to make a 9-inch disk, rotating a quarter turn after each stroke and sprinkling additional crumbs as needed to heavily coat both top and bottom. Flip dough and continue to roll, without rotating, into a 13-inch disk just under 1/8-inch thick. Fold dough in quarters, then place in center of a 9-inch pyrex pie pan. Unfold dough to cover pan completely, then trim the edges and flute the crust. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Prick shell with fork at 12-inch intervals to prevent dough from ballooning. Press a doubled 12-inch square of aluminum foil inside pie shell. Prick foil to prevent further ballooning. Refrigerate to let dough relax, at least 30 minutes longer. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat to 400 deg F. Bake, checking occasionally for ballooning, until crust is firmly set, about 15 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 350 deg F, remove foil, and continue to bake until crust is crisp and golden brown, about 10-15 minutes longer. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely. Banana Cream Pie 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp granulated sugar 1/4 cup cornstarch 1/8 tsp salt 5 large egg yolks, lightly beaten 2 cups 2% or whole milk 1/2 cup evaporated milk 1/2 vanilla bean, about 3 inches long, split lengthwise 2 Tbsp butter 1-2 tsp brandy 1 graham cracker coated pie shell, baked and cooled 2 medium bananas 1 cup heavy cream 2 Tbsp confectioner's sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla extract Whisk sugar, cornstarch and salt in medium saucepan. Add yolks, then immediately but gradually whisk in milk and evap. milk. drop in vanilla bean. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently at first, and then constantly as mixture starts to thicken and begins to simmer, 8-10 minutes. Once mixture simmers, continue to cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute longer. Remove pan from heat; whisk in brandy and butter. Remove vanilla bean, scrape out seeds, whisk them back into filling. Pour filling into shallow pan (another pie pan works well). Put plastic wrap directly on surface to prevent a skin from forming; cool until warm, about 30 minutes. Pour 1/2 of the warm filling into pie shell, slice the bananas over filling, then top with second half of filling. Once again, place sheet of plastic wrap directly on surface. Refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 3 hours. Whip cream to soft peaks. Add confectioner's sugar and vanilla; continue to whip to barely stiff peaks. Spread over filling and refrigerate until ready to serve. Notes: Cooking the starch and the eggs together from the start prevents the eggs from curdling, making the cooking less tricky. Skim milk made a vivid yellow filling, but not a very creamy one. 1/2 and 1/2 or cream made a filling that was too rich -- especially when combined with the pastry and the whipped cream. Evap. milk on its own tasted too strongly of caramel. Hot filling poured directly into the crust did not make the crust soggy, but was too liquid and compacted too much, making a short, squat pie. The warm filling mounds more attractively. If the filling is completely chilled before spooning into the crust, you will disturb the completely set starch bonds -- creating a runny mess. Putting the bananas as the bottom layer made the crust soggy. Mashing them and mixing them into the filling let them turn brown too quickly. The graham cracker crumbs help keep the crust crisp after the filling is poured in.