Through the 1980’s and early 1990’s, my Grandpa Mott was the General Manager of the company of restaurants, Frontier Pies. My dad was the manager of the Provo, Utah restaurant. My mom helped design the menus and decorate all of them. I remember her traveling with my grandma to new Frontier Pies restaurants about to open up, and she would help decorate and get them ready to open. My grandma was the Pie Master and would travel to all the restaurants to train and make sure all the pies were top quality.

There are several pies that instantly make me think of my grandma. This Banana Cream Pie is one of them.
* Disclaimer * This is NOT her recipe. When I was about 25 years old I asked her for this recipe. And she said, “Oh you know, just whip up a vanilla pudding from scratch and pour it in a pie shell with bananas.” Uhhhh…. HAHAHA So over time I drew from other recipes and worked on it till I got to taste just like my grandma’s. When we started working on this blog I reached out to my aunts and cousins to see if anyone had her exact recipe and NO ONE has it. I’m thinking that she never had one written down. It was just something she whipped up, using her wealth of knowledge of cooking and baking. Obviously, there was a legit recipe that the restaurant used, but those recipes were legally owned by Frontier Pies. There are only a few that I have actually received from her in their full form. She rationalized giving me the few that she did by saying they were old family recipes. Which they were.
So Banana Cream Pie! Start by baking a pie shell. This is my go to recipe. Basic Pie Crust
Buy or make a pie crust and set it aside. Next, make some vanilla pudding. In a heavy bottomed saucepan, blend together the sugar, flour and salt with a whisk. Slowly add the milk a little at a time with the whisk. Incorporate a little at a time till all the milk is in, and there are no lumps.

Put over medium heat and whisk until it is thick. Remove from heat. Now add the eggs, but temper them first. While whisking, add about a 1/4 cup of the hot liquid into the yolks. Now the yolks can be added into the hot liquid.
**Why do you need to temper the egg yolks?” This step is very important. Tempering brings the temperature up gradually. Add cold eggs into a hot mixture will instantly start to cook them. Curdled or scrambled eggs is not what we are going for in our pudding. The egg yolks, once tempered, really help to add thickness, creaminess and texture to the pudding.
Put back on the heat and whisk until there is a low bubble and it looks like white lava. Remove from heat. Add in the butter and vanilla extract. Whisk until the butter is fully melted in.

Set the pudding aside. Slice 1 banana into the bottom of the pie. Then, do a layer using 1/2 the pudding. Slice another banana evenly over the top. Next spread the rest of the pudding over the top. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour.

Before serving, prepare the whipped cream and spread it over the top. I like to slice a few more bananas over the top. If I am feeling fancy, and have time, I put the whipped cream in a piping bag with tip and make it look real pretty.

For Thanksgiving, I make it the day before, and let it chill in the refrigerator until it is time for pie. I then add the whipped cream and fresh bananas on top, right before serving.


Banana Cream Pie
Ingredients
- 1 9-inch baked pie shell
- ¾ cup white sugar
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 cups milk 2% or whole is recommended
- 3 egg yolks, whisked
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 2-3 bananas
Whipped topping
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- ¼-½ cup powdered sugar, to taste
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium sized saucepan, use a whisk to combine the sugar, flour and salt.
- Turn heat on to medium. Slowly pour in a little of the milk, while whisking. Add a little more milk at a time, using your whisk to incorporate all the dry ingredients. Whisk until all the milk is added and there are no lumps. Continue to slowly whisk over the heat till it is thick and bubbly.
- Remove the milk mixture from the heat. Measure about ⅓ cup of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks. Whisk with a fork or small whisk as you add to temper the eggs. This will keep the eggs from curdling when you add them into the hot milk. **If you put the egg yolks straight into the milk, you will have scrambled eggs in your pudding.
- Put the milk mixture back onto medium low heat. Whisk in the tempered egg yolks as you whisk. Continue to whisk over the heat till the mixture looks like a thick, creamy pudding. I also watch for it to hit a low boil, and know it is done. It will look like white lava.
- Remove the pudding from the heat. Add in the vanilla and butter. Whisk until the butter has melted in.
- Slice one banana into the bottom of the baked pie shell. Pour half of the pudding over the bananas. Slice ½ -1 banana over the pudding. As much or as little as you like. Or you could leave this layer of bananas out. Pour the rest of the pudding in and smooth over the top. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. **For Thanksgiving I make the day before and chill until we are ready for pie the next day. I will take it out and proceed from here.
- In a stand mixer or using electric beaters, whip up 1 cup of heavy cream, ¼-½ cup of powdered sugar to your desired sweetness and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. Whip it up until firm and soft. Spread over the top of the pie. Add one more single layer of bananas on top. **You may use a piping bag and tip to apply the whipped cream in a more decorative manner.
Basic Pie Crust
Ingredients
Single Crust
- 1 1/4 cup flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1/3 cup Crisco shortening, chilled
- 4-6 Tablespoons Ice water
Double Crust
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup Crisco shortening chilled
- 5-9 Tablespoon ice water
Instructions
- In large bowl, blend flour and salt.
- Cut shortening into flour mixture with pastry cutter or fork until the consitency of coarse crumbs.
- Stir in water 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time until dough just holds together and not crumbly.
- Divide dough in half and wrap each in cling wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. (I usually skip this step.) Each will make one crust, top or bottom.
For One Crust Pie
- Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to about 2 inches larger than pie plate.Using pancake turner, roll the dough onto rolling pin. Center over pie plate and carefully unroll. Adjust as needed.
- Trim edges about 1/4 inch over ridge. Fold extra crust underneath and crimp.
- For a pre-baked crust, heat oven to 425°. Prick pie shell all over with a fork.
- Bake on lowest oven rack for 15 minutes.
For Two Crust Pie
- Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to about 2 inches larger than pie plate.
- Using pancake turner, roll dough onto rolling pin. Center over pie plate and carefully unroll. Adjust as needed.
- Trim edges about 1/4 inch over ridge.
- Fill pie crust.
- Roll out top on lightly floured surface.
- Using a butter or steak knife, cut vents into crust.
- Carefully load onto rolling pin and unroll over top.
- Trim edges just a bit larger than the bottom crust.
- Fold under top crust with bottom crust onto the ridge of the pan. Crimp edges.