Emeril Lagasse's Banana Cream Pie Recipe

Discover Emeril Lagasse's banana cream pie with a twist — elegant mini banana cream pies, served in miniature tart forms and taking the dessert experience to another level of refinement and great taste. Emeril Lagasse's banana cream pie has made a name for itself as a delicious celebration of cream, banana flavor, chocolate, caramel, and indulgence, according to food blogger and photographer Ksenia Prints of At the Immigrant's Table. Long available at Emeril's, a slice of this delicious pie would normally set you back a few hundred calories and a pretty penny. Not to mention, its sheer size alone would be worthy of an eating challenge.

But our adaptation is a different story. Our mini banana cream pies are beautiful little tarts, individually layered, piped, and served to the delight of each diner — and each pie is big enough for one, or can even be shared by two love birds. No more need to wrap up dessert leftovers, either! Now, you can make your own beautiful mini banana cream pies, and enjoy them whenever the mood strikes. 

Try our mini version of Emeril Lagasse's banana cream pie, and fall in love with the combination of crispy graham cracker crust, vanilla custard, fresh banana slices, whipped cream, and drizzles of chocolate and caramel. It's a dessert you will be so excited to serve, and your guests will be even happier than you are.

The ingredient list for making this layered dessert may seem long, but it'll prove more than worth it once you bite into one of these tartlets. To make the crust, you will need graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and unsalted butter. If you cannot find pre-made graham cracker crumbs, you can also buy graham crackers and grind them in the food processor (doing it by hand leaves overly large chunks).

For the custard and whipped cream, you will need heavy whipping cream, whole milk, sugar, vanilla extract, egg yolks, a whole egg, and cornstarch. And finally, for the topping of the cream pies, you'll need — you know it — firm but ripe bananas (about six of them), your favorite caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, and chocolate shavings.

First, you will make the mini tart crusts to house the pies. Begin by preheating the oven to 350 F. Then, prep eight 4-inch mini tart pans with removable buttons by greasing them with butter.

In a large bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs and ¼ cup of sugar, and mix with a spatula to combine. Slowly drizzle melted butter into the bowl, and mix well to combine. Press the crust mixture tightly into mini tart molds, including up the sides. You want your tarts to have sides and a bottom so they will look better and be easier to remove.

Arrange the mini tart forms on a baking sheet, and transfer to a 350 F oven to bake for 15 minutes. Then, let them cool for 10 to 15 minutes on a cookie drying rack. Note that the graham cracker crusts can also be made in advance and kept in the refrigerator.

To make the custard for the filling, set a heavy-bottomed saucepan on medium heat. Add 1 cup of cream, milk, ¼ cup of sugar, and ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract, and bring the mix to a boil. Whisk the mixture until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat, and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the egg yolks, whole egg, cornstarch, and remaining ½ cup of sugar. Whisk to emulsify completely. Slowly pour 1 cup of the warm custard base into the egg mixture, whisking continuously. This helps temper the eggs to the temperature of the custard, and prevents them from curdling.

Return the saucepan with the custard to the stovetop. Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining custard base, whisking continuously. Bring to a simmer, and cook for five minutes, whisking all along. (If the mixture separates, remove it from heat, and beat with an electric mixer until it becomes thick and smooth once again.)

Pour the prepared custard into a flat casserole dish, and cover with plastic wrap to prevent a film from forming on the top of the custard. Let it cool in the fridge for one to two hours.

While the custard is cooling, it's time to prepare the whipped cream. First off, to make the perfect whipped cream for topping these adorable pies, we recommend working with a perfectly cold bowl. If you have the time, place your bowl in the fridge or freezer until ready to make whipped cream.

Once the bowl is cold enough, you can move on! In the large bowl, whip the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add 2 teaspoons of sugar and ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract, and continue whipping until stiff peaks are formed.

To assemble Emeril Lagasse's banana cream pies with a twist, spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons of the cooled custard mixture, and place it in the bottom of each mini tart. Top with five to six banana slices in each mini tart, pressing them down firmly with your hands to flatten. Then, top with 1 to 2 tablespoons of whipped cream. (The whipped cream should cover the bananas fully to avoid discoloration.) Drizzle each mini banana cream pie with the caramel and chocolate sauces, and sprinkle liberally with chocolate shavings.

Congratulations — you've made your very own mini tart versions of Emeril Lagasse's banana cream pie! Now you can enjoy the glorious flavor and experience of scrumptious banana cream pie — drizzled with caramel and chocolate and topped off with chocolate shavings, if desired — in elegant mini tart form.

These tarts would be perfect to serve at the end of a fancy dinner party or a birthday celebration for a special someone who loves banana cream pie. They can also be enjoyed as a regular dessert for an everyday meal, but fair warning that they may upscale anything else that you serve.

This Emeril Lagasse's banana cream pie with a twist recipe is best enjoyed fresh, the same day it's made. However, leftover mini banana cream pies will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for three to five days.

Emeril Lagasse's original recipe for banana cream pie involves alternating layers of custard and bananas. These layers are then topped with whipped cream and the requisite caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, and chocolate shavings. As you can imagine, the resulting pie is not only decadent — it's also huge and unwieldy.

We took the original recipe and adjusted the quantities to match eight 4-inch mini tart pans. The resulting mini tarts are as tasty and luxurious as the original recipe, but also a lot more refined. This is now a dessert you could serve to someone you're really trying to impress!