photo: cookingchanneltv.com

Serves 8

For the Crust:
2 cups coarse chocolate cookie crumbs, plus 1/4 cup for topping (I used pareve oreo’s)
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted margarine, melted

For the filling:
3 cups pareve milk (or a combination of pareve milk and soymilk)
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ripe bananas (about 1-1/2 pounds total), peeled, halved lengthwise, and sliced 1/4-inch thick

For the topping:
1 cup pareve whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks
2 tablespoons sugar
A few drops vanilla extract

Directions

Make the crust:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt margarine and sugar together in a saucepan over medium heat. Gradually add cookie crumbs and stir to combine well. Press crumb mixture onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie dish. Bake crust 10 to 12 minutes. Cool completely.

For filling:
Heat the pareve milk over medium heat until warmed, but not boiling. Beat the yolks in a large bowl. Slowly whisk the warm pareve milk into the yolks and add the vanilla. Whisk sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in heavy medium saucepan. Over medium heat, gradually whisk in the egg, pareve milk, and vanilla mixture to the dry ingredients until custard thickens and you can see the tracks from the whisk in the bottom of the pan, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat. Transfer custard to large bowl and fold in bananas; cover bowl with plastic wrap and cool custard completely in refrigerator, about 1-1/2 hours.

When custard has chilled, in a separate bowl, whip the pareve whipped cream, slowly adding the sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Fold in most of the remaining chocolate cookie crumbs, reserving a few for garnish.

Stir custard to loosen, if necessary. Spread over bottom of prepared crust. Top with whipped cream mixture. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Scatter remaining chocolate crumbs over top just before serving.