Banana-Meringue Pudding Pie

My sister has spent the summer in Nashville, Tennessee. Since I went to school in Little Rock, Arkansas, my “sis” and I have had long conversations about the “Southern Charm”.

The South of the United States has something whimsical. Maybe is the exuberant green vegetation, the swamps and lakes, the warm nights, the neat-white looking houses … but to me, what keep me going back to the South is the slow pace of life and the “well known” Southern hospitality.

The South is sweet. Sweet in the broadest sense of the word. No wonder the South is “Baking-land”.

Baking is part of their culture. And without complex! Their baking is tasty and intense. Spongy cake with tons of frosting just came to my mind!

My sister came back with a suitcase with half of Williams-Sonoma on it. http://www.williams-sonoma.com/ She also brought me this great book “ Classic Southern Desserts” by the editors of Southern Living. (You can find it in Amazon)

From all the lovely recipes I picked the Banana-Meringue Pudding pie. I love bananas and the pudding makes the pie light and fresh. Perfect for a summer afternoon.

There you have the recipe. I hope you like it!

Banana-Meringue Pudding Pie

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

340 gr vanilla wafers (Granola or Chiquilin works for the crust)

½ cup butter, melted

3 large bananas sliced

Vanilla Cream filling

4 egg whites

½ cup sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 180º. Set aside 30 vanilla wafers; pulse remaining vanilla wafers in a food processor until coarsely crushed. Stir together crushed vanilla wafers and butter until blended. Firmly press on bottom, upsides, and onto lip of a 22/23 cm pie plate.

Bake at 180º for 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack and let it cool completely (aprox. 30 min.)

Arrange banana slices evenly over of bottom of crust. Prepare Vanilla Cream Filling, and spread half of hot filling over bananas; top with 20 vanilla wafers and top with remaining banana slices. Spread remaining hot filling.

Beat egg whites at high speed with an electric mixer until foamy. Add sugar, 1 tbsp. at time, beating until stiff peaks form and sugar dissolves. Spread meringue evenly over hot filling, sealing the edges.

Bake at 180º for 10 to 12 min. or until golden brown. Remove from oven, and let cool on wire rack until completely cool (about 1 hour). Coarsely crush remaining 1o vanilla wafers, and sprinkle evenly over top of pie. Chill at least 4 hours. Store in refrigerator.

Vanilla Cream Filling

Makes about 3 cups

Ingredients

¾ cup sugar

1/3-cup flour

2 large eggs

4 egg yolks

2 cups milk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

Whisk together first 5 ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Cook over a medium-low heat, whisking constantly, 8 to 10 min or until mixture reaches the thickness of chilled pudding. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla. Use filling immediately.