Remove the saucepan from the heat, scrape the custard into a wide
bowl and stir in the butter with a stiff plastic spatula until dissolved.

Then stir slowly every 5 minutes as it cools to around 25°C (75°F),
so a skin doesn’t form. This will take around 1 hour in a cool kitchen
(longer in a warm kitchen).

Grab your blind-baked crust.* Cut the perfectly ripe bananas down
the middle lengthways then into 2 cm (¾ in) wide semicircles. Gently
fold the banana pieces into the cooled custard to coat thoroughly.

The custard will seal around the banana, staving off oxidisation. If the
custard is too hot this can accelerate browning.

Scrape the mix into the crust, smooth the top and press a piece of
plastic wrap to the surface and chill for a minimum of 4 hours or
overnight.

To finish, whip the cream with the vanilla. Pile onto the centre of
the cooled pie. With an offset spatula, gently push the cream to the
crust edge. Chop the sesame wafer into a chunky dust and scatter
over the top. To serve, saw gently through the cream, clean the knife,
then cut through fully along the slice line again to chomp through
the filling all the way to the base. If you don’t eat the entire pie once
cut, press a piece of plastic wrap against the cut side to delay the
banana browning.

* If the crust burns or breaks pre-fill, make the Crisp rye streusel (page 274)
or pop to the supermarket and grab a packet of wheaten cookies. Whiz 240 g
(8½ oz) with 60 g (2 oz) melted butter to a wet sandy crumb and press into
the pie dish (see Nicole Rucker’s life-affirming lime pie, page 131, for crust- pressing method). Set the crust by baking for 10 minutes at 130°C (265°F),
then cool and fill as des cribed.

Adaptrix
P-B
Peanuts go hand in hand with
banana. Whisk 60 g (2 oz) smooth
peanut butter with the butter into
the custard at the end. Make a
Lazy toffee crunch (page 273)
with peanuts (not sesame) or the
Leatherwood honeycomb (page 270)
and scatter this on top.

Vanilla cream
350 g/ml (12½ oz) thick cream
(45% milkfat)
5 g (⅛ oz/½ teaspoon) vanilla
paste
To finish
½ × batch Lazy toffee crunch –
Sesame Adaptrix (page 273)