The Great American Pie Tour

As Easy as Eating Pie

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As presented in Grafton's Valley Messenger. Read Latest Edition

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Beginning 16 Feb 2022 at Cold Brew Café 53 Armidale St.,
(Armidale St. and Cambridge St.) South Grafton, NSW.

For those of you just joining, let’s recap: A friend of the Cold Brew Cafe confided in us that he yearns to travel the length and breadth of the United States, stopping at diners along the way to indulge in nothing but pie. What a fantastic journey that would be! But we reasoned we could accomplish that very thing right here in South Grafton. This is a tour of Americas favourite food: pie.

The Pie of Pies What on Earth Will We Do Next?

There are five types of pie: cream, fruit, sugar, custard and savoury. The top ten most popular pies in the United States are:

All of which we have done (and many more) on our Great American Pie Tour! And you must be thinking, “What on Earth could be next? Wait! What IS the 6th favourite pie in America? What’s the big mystery pie?” To which we answer, “Let’s have a chat.”

The mystery pie is one we’ve avoided because at least half of the best recipes include a biscuit we cannot find in Australia, the Vanilla or Nilla Wafer. Nilla Wafers are not the frosting filled, wispy wafer we have here in Australia. This Nilla Wafer is a coin shaped cookie with a very distinct vanilla flavour. This is the first time there hasn’t a comparable substitute for this particular bikkie; however, we have found recipes for Nilla Wafers; so, we’ve decided we’re going to do it!

“Yes, yes, but what pie are you going to do?” you ask with delighted anticipation! Because Nilla Wafers are so awesome, we are going to make Banana Cream Pie with home made Vanilla Wafers! We kid you not, this is possibly one of the most iconic pies made in America.

Bananas are believed to be the worlds first fruit[1]. The banana, as we know today, was cultivated in Africa in 650AD. With improved transportation in the Industrial Age in the 1800s, bananas became available in the United States. In 1901 the Women’s Exchange Cookbook suggested one fill a pie shell with sliced bananas and powdered sugar. That’s nothing like the beautiful pastry cream, biscuit crust, and Nilla Wafer dream we eat today.

Beloved of American Soldiers in the 1950s as their number one pie, banana cream pie started to appear in women’s magazines. But the real roots of this pie stem from a good old Southern Banana Pudding!

We’re relying on Banana Pudding recipes for our Banana Cream Pie! Our crust will be our favourite butter crust, pate brisee, unless we feel differently. We’ll be trying out a few things and publish the final recipe in the next issue of Valley Messenger! Yes, we will include the Vanilla Wafer recipe as well!

You can find posts of our recipe progress, "tips and secrets” and other updates on our FaceBook page @coldbrewcafeaustralia. Search #greatamericanpietour to find our past posts and pies on the Great American Pie Tour. Until then, come have a cuppa and a piece of pie with us! We look forward to seeing you!

[1: Australian Banana Grower’s Council, 2022, History of Bananas retrieved from: Here.]

Banana Cream Pie with Vanilla Wafer Recipe

This “out of this world” pie has easy to make components, but a lot of components. The Vanilla Wafers, in our opinion, are a “must have”, but can be replaced with Nice Biscuits. However, pastry cream, “graham cracker” (Digestive) crust, whipped cream, and bananas are a delightful combination with or without the biscuits.

Vanilla Wafers

115g butter, soft
191g confection sugar
3 large egg whites, room temperature
1 large egg, room temperature
170g all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
½ tsp baking powder

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F (170°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the softened butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly add in the egg whites and mix until smooth. Add the remaining whole egg and mix until fully incorporated. If the mix curdles don't worry, just give it a good whisk to bring it back together.

Once combined, add the flour, vanilla, salt, and baking powder and mix until it just comes together. Do not over mix. The batter will be somewhat soft. Place batter in a piping bag fitted with a medium pastry tip. Pipe it in even mounds onto a cookie sheet (roughly 2 teaspoons). Keep cookies about 1 ½ inches apart as the batter will spread when baked.

Place in oven and bake for approximately 15-18 minutes or until golden. Once cooled store in an airtight for up to 7 days.

Crust

200g Digestives (½ packet)
3 tablespoons (37g) sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons (71g) Butter

Method

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 160 ℃.
Process digestives in food processor until finely ground, about 30 seconds (you should have about 11⁄4 cups crumbs). Add sugar and salt and pulse to combine. Add melted butter and pulse until mixture resembles wet sand.

Transfer crumbs to 9-inch pie plate. Press crumbs evenly into bottom and up sides of plate. Bake until crust is lightly browned, 15 to 18 minutes. Allow crust to cool completely.

Pastry Cream:

½ cup (98g) white sugar
5 tablespoons (47g) cornstarch
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 cups whole milk
4 tablespoons (57g) cold unsalted butter, cubed
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar, cornstarch, salt, egg, egg yolks, milk, and vanilla in a saucepan; whisk until well combined. Place over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom surface of the pan, until thick, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk to release some steam. Add butter and keep stirring until melted. Pass through a fine sieve to remove any lumps. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream to cover and refrigerate until chilled.

Assemble

Slice 3 bananas at an angle and ½ cm thick.
1-2 teaspoons lemon juice to keep the bananas from going brown.
1 cup pure cream
2 tablespoons icing mixture

In your pre-maid crust pan layer 1cm of pastry cream (almost half) into the bottom. Add one layer of bananas, one layer of vanilla wafers, another layer of pastry cream. This should bring you to near the top of the pie crust. If you have left over bananas place in the centre being sure to cover with pasty cream as they will brown while setting. Cover with plastic wrap and set in the refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours.

Slice and ENJOY!

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