Tuesday, May 25, 2010

TWD: Banana-Coconut Ice Cream Pie


I feel like I am a much more adventurous eater since I started baking with TWD. I enjoy things I didn't used to like (coconut, custard), and I have come to appreciate certain flavor combos that I never would have expected. I trust Dorie, I do. She rarely leads us down the wrong road. That said, I have to draw the line somewhere, and a pie that involves banana, coconut, rum and CHOCOLATE ice cream seemed like as good a place as any. Swapping vanilla ice cream for the chocolate was pretty much a no-brainer for me, since my husband wouldn't eat the chocolate version anyway, and vanilla just seemed safer to boring, rule-following, never-did-a-single-crazy-thing-in-her-life me.

UNDERACHIEVER'S DISCLOSURES

(1) I did not make my own ice cream for this recipe
(2) I did not make my own butter cookies for this recipe
(3) I used all "ripe but firm" bananas for the recipe, not some "very ripe" bananas and some "ripe but firm" bananas

I've never made a crust like this before - it's a no-bake crust that contains a stick of butter, a couple of cups of coconut, which get toasted in the melted butter, and crushed up butter cookies. After it's all mixed together, it gets pressed into a pie dish and then frozen. After the crust is ready, it gets topped with slices of "ripe but firm" bananas. The pie filling starts with making a puree of "very ripe" bananas (I used "ripe but firm"), lemon and dark rum in the food processor. Add vanilla ice cream to the puree and pulse to combine, but be careful not to melt the ice cream. My ice cream (which was very hard out of the carton) melted upon first or second pulse, so I'm not quite sure how to pull off that trick, but there was nothing do be done about that but pour it all into the pie crust and hope for the best.

My camera died, so the pie pictures here are iPhone photos taken by my 7 year old. I think he did a good job, even though he only took the pictures as a ploy to take my iPhone from me. Meanwhile, my camera is en route to Canon for fixing. Ever wonder what a shutter looks like when it won't close? It's that tiny bronze-ish dot in the lower right hand quadrant of the black box.


Incidentally, Canon customer service was awesome (so far - I don't have my camera back yet, of course). So awesome, that I almost forgot I was calling them because my 6 month old camera just conked out on me. The guy seemed almost as distressed as I was that my camera was broken, and by gosh, he was going to get to the bottom of it! We went through a whole battery of troubleshooting exercises. At one point he told me to hold down the picturetaking button (he didn't use the phrase "picturetaking button") and asked me to look into the hole (he didn't use the phrase "hole") and tell him if I saw a blue/green shade. I told him that I didn't think I saw blue/green, but more of a nailhead/pinhead against a black background, almost like the back of a small nail. It was at that point that he said: "Oh no. What you are seeing is your shutter. It's not closing" -- as if it personally pained him to have to tell me this. At that point there was really nothing left for us to talk about other than the instructions for sending my camera back to Canon.

The good news/bad news is that I'm not sure I would have done a whole lot better than this even if I had my camera.


David, his parents and I had this for dessert over the weekend. Everybody liked it. It's a nice warm-weather dessert with unquestionably tropical flavors. Tropical flavors tend not to be my favorite flavors, at least not in solid form (i.e., I'm more likely to be effusive in praise about a banana/rum/lemon/coconut/vanilla concoction that I'm supposed to drink) but again, this is a great dessert choice if you are looking for a tropical, cool dessert that requires teeth.

Spike of Spike Bakes chose this pie. You can find the recipe (and lots of other great things!) on Spike's blog. Thanks for the summery pick, Spike!

22 comments:

Engineer Baker said...

Too funny - that was my exact reaction. Banana, coconut, rum, *and* chocolate?! Vanilla does sound like the perfect sub, and your pie looks wonderful! (PS - my 9 mo old Nikon did the same thing, so sad! Hope you get your camera back soon!)

Hindy said...

Your variation sounds delicious. Glad it was enjoyed.

Mary said...

It looks great to me, but I think vanilla is way better than chocolate! I have a broken camera here too:(

Jessica said...

Oh dear about the camera! I hope it gets well soon. I'm so happy that you've had good customer service -- that just makes things so much simpler, doesn't it? Or at least you're not as inclined to want to throw a tantrum over the experience.

I love the description of "a tropical cool dessert that requires teeth!" It's so true. I'm glad you guys enjoyed this!

Di said...

I hope you get your camera back soon! And it's so nice to hear about good customer service experiences. While I agree with you about appreciating new flavor combos, we still don't appreciate coconut around this house. =)

natalia said...

ciao Cathy ! I'm sorry for the camera ! Your boy is a great photographer though !!

spike. said...

I like the vanilla variation! The iphone does well in a pinch...I've had to rely on it more than a few times when I lose my camera, the battery is dead or I'm just being lazy. oh well.

TeaLady said...

The pie plate with the scalloped edges is perfect for that crust. Vanilla ice cream would have been my pick over chocolate, but I made coconut instead.

Nothing wrong with that picture. Hope you camera comes back soon.

Katrina said...

Non-conformist! ;)
It looks great.
Sorry about your camera. I strongly do not enjoy camera or computer woes! Hope it's back safe and sound soon!
Oh yeah, I didn't conform to the recipe either, but even moreso than you.

La Bella Cooks said...

Aw, sorry to hear about your camera! Your pie looks beautiful and quite tasty! Hope you and your family are doing well.

The Blonde Duck said...

Ice cream and pie? YUM!

Tia said...

love your pie making summary, lol :)

Kayte said...

Love your photos of all of this, they look so old-fashioned and comforting and just really lovely to look at...the blues and whites, etc. Your pie looks great. I have decided that I like bananas one way: au natural and that's it. I do not like bananas in things. Guess I had not had enough experience heretofore to decide this definitely, but I am now making the decision that there will be no more bananas in things that are on my "to eat" list. It took this long to come up with this. That is one very nice ruffly pie plate you have there, too.

Anonymous said...

Your iPhone photos look better than any iPhone photo that I've taken!

Great customer service story. I'm so happy when I get a nice person on the phone or via email.

Leslie said...

*A moment of silence for your ailing camera*

I think vanilla ice cream would actually compliment the bananas. If I had vanilla (and not making your own ice cream makes you smarter or less insane than I am) I probably would have used the bananas. It sounds like it turned out well and was enjoyed so I'd call it a win!

mike said...

This looks straight out of Country Living - truly. (Even with an iPhone)! How funny... I got my camera back from Canon with a $146 bill - and it was broke (but that's just me). I sluffed (is that a word?) and bought another brand. I'm not loyal that way - with cameras or ice cream. Mine was too darn dark - chocolate. I love the lighter chocolate or even vanilla ice creams. Coconut goes better with vanilla IMO - at least it looks better when you're going Country Living!

Nancy/n.o.e said...

Yep, file this one in the "needs teeth, but barely" compartment of the tropical flavors file - you never know when you'll need to access it. The folks at my gym are still talking about the pie, but little do they know of the things that we've baked over the course of these almost 2 years (can you believe it???) I'm going to be on the road for your pick, but I've made it (we loved it) and hope I can get the post written in time.

Unknown said...

Oh no, so sorry to hear about your camera Cathy! I don't know what I'd do without mine. That said, those are some impressive iPhone photos. Hope you get the camera back soon and it's as good as new!

Your pie looks terrific! The flavor combination here actually sounded appealing to me (minus the rum) though I did cut back a little on the bananas. This one was seriously dangerous to have around at my house. I made a full size pie and ate most of it myself.

Peggy said...

Cathy this pie looks fabulous! I normally do not like coconut in pies but this sounds good. We have come a long ways in our cooking adventures haven't we!! I'm looking forward to reading about your pick. :)

Unknown said...

Your pie looks great! Sorry about your camera. But, hey, your pie looks great!!!

Proud Italian Cook said...

Hi Cathy, That pie is to die for!

chocolatechic said...

Next time I make short cakes, I'll use this recipe.

However, I didn't make them this time because I am out of fruit.

 
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