Thursday, April 3, 2008

Grammy came down from Olympia to visit for a few days. Once she sat down, she was immediately "attacked with kisses" from the dogs. When Vizslas kiss, they are not soft.- The kisses are hard nudges with the nose.
Here are some lovely banana cream tarts I made today with homemade confectioners cream. Simply scrumptious! We bought a banana cream pie from Safeway last week to share with our friends. It was awful! Fake whipped cream, horrible fake banana filling. I knew I could do better. Here's what I did.

I don't like to make my own pie crust, so I bought the Pillsbury premade sheets. I cut out shapes with a cookie cutter and molded them in my muffin tin. Later in the evening, I sliced up the bananas, put them in the tart shells, spooned in the custard and topped it off with whipped cream. So easy and so delicious. One note on the custard: Don't limit it to pies. Naseem loved it and spooned extra over a bowl of strawberries and bananas.

Here is the confectioner's cream recipe.
1 cup 1/2 & 1/2 or heavy cream
1 1/2 T. cornstarch
2 T. sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 t. pure vanilla extract

Whisk the 1/2 & 1/2, cornstarch & sugar together in a large microwave safe bowl. Cook at full power for 1 minute. Stir the mixture and cook for 2-3 more minutes , a minute at a time (or until the mix comes to a boil and thickens slightly).

While the liquid is heating, whisk the vanilla & egg yolk in a small bowl.

Slowly whisk a little of the hot liquid into the yolk. Pour the yolk into the cream mixture. Whisk well and return to the microwave. Cook the cream for 30 seconds longer, then remove and stir again. It should be the consistency of lemon curd. Scrape into a small container. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Cool to room temperature. Seal the container & chill. The cream can be made up to three days ahead and refrigerated.

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