I spent most of the weekend relaxing and recovering from last week’s cold. It was the perfect opportunity to catch up on my food magazines. I always have a stack about 2 feet high. It’s a problem! I started from the most current issue and immediately started craving these banana and chocolate cream pie parfaits. It was in a story about Hawaii, home to one of the best banana cream pies Matthew and I have ever had!  Of course I started to crave it like crazy so I had to make these parfaits asap. The best part was that I had everything in my kitchen already! From the eggless chocolate pudding, to the perfectly whipped banana cream on top, this is one incredible dessert. This would be so fun to make for a party with little kiddos too! And everyone loves bananas and chocolate right?

Banana and Chocolate Cream Pie Parfaits

adapted from Food & Wine January 2016

makes 6

INGREDIENTS
for the pudding

¼ cup plus 1 Tbsp cornstarch

½ cup sugar

1 Tbsp. light corn syrup

¼ tsp kosher salt

¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 ½ oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 Tbsp unsalted butter

for the crumbs

8 whole graham crackers coarsely crushed

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

2 tsp. honey

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

pinch of kosher salt

for the banana cream

1 cup heavy cream

¼ cup sugar

1 mashed banana

½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out

2 bananas, peeled and sliced, for serving

1 pint vanilla or banana ice cream, for serving

DIRECTIONS

Make the pudding: In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch with ½ cup of water. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup and salt with 1 ½ cups of water and bring to a boil. Whisk in the cocoa powder, then whisk in the cornstarch slurry and cook until thick, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and whisk in the chocolate and butter until smooth. Scrape the pudding into a bowl and press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface. Let cool. Then refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, make the crumbs. In a bowl, toss the crushed graham crackers with the melted butter, honey, cinnamon and salt until evenly moistened.

Make the banana cream: In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the cream with the sugar, mashed bananas and vanilla seeds to stiff peaks.

Assemble the parfaits: Spoon the pudding into 6 8oz jars or cups. Top with a sprinkling of the graham cracker crumbs, a layer of sliced bananas and a scoop of ice cream. Garnish the parfaits with a dollop of the banana cream and graham cracker crumbs and serve.

This dessert is one I will definitely be making again! And, I’ll probably make the pudding even on its own. It’s the perfect after work snack!

xox