Tropical Banana Cream Pie

A tropical fusion of banana cream and coconut cream pies with bananas, coconut, macadamia nuts, and pineapple. This Tropical Banana Cream Pie is a decadent pie that’s sure to please this holiday season!

Hi there! Amanda again from Yummy Treats + Healthy Eats. I am so excited to drop in again this month and share what may just be my favorite cream pie recipe ever. I myself am a fan of coconut cream pie, but my husband David would much rather dig into a banana cream pie. So this year for our thanksgiving dinner I wanted to develop a recipe for a cream pie that combined both of our loves.

This is the pie that resulted from that goal and we love it! The pie starts with a buttery graham cracker crust. The crust gets a layer of ripe bananas and then it gets filled with a doctored up pudding mix that has toasted coconut, crushed pineapple, and roasted chopped macadamia nuts mixed in. It’s like a taste of summer and the tropics in the middle of fall.

This tropical banana cream pie is simple to make, but sweet and satisfying. If you’re looking to change things up with your cream pie selection this Thanksgiving, this recipe is for you!

Tropical Banana Cream Pie

 

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Prep time

1 hour 30 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

1 hour 40 mins

 

Author: © Amanda Jenks, inspired by A Spicy Perspective

Serves: 10-12 servings

Ingredients

Graham cracker crust:

• 14 graham cracker sheets, finely crushed
• 2 tbsp sugar
• pinch salt
• 6 tbsp salted butter, melted

Pudding pie filling:

• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (3.4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding
• 1 cup cold milk
• 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk,divided
• 2 tsp coconut extract, divided
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• ¾ cup toasted coconut, divided
• 1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained*
• ⅓ cup dry roasted unsalted macadamia nuts, chopped
• additional chopped nuts, toasted coconut, and maraschino cherries for garnish.

Directions

To make the crust:

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Lightly grease a deep pie plate with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar salt and melted butter until combined. Mixture will resemble coarse sand. Press evenly in the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pie plate.
3. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until it's golden brown and smells fragrant. Remove from oven, and let cool completely.

To make the pudding pie filling:

1. Set aside 3 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk. Place a medium mixing bowl in the freezer.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the pudding mix and the milk until combined. Set aside.
3. In another medium mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Mix in the pudding, 1 tsp coconut extract, and the remaining sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Set aside.
4. Whip the cream, reserved sweetened condensed milk, and remaining 1 tsp coconut extract in the chilled bowl until stiff peaks form.
5. Fold half of the whipped cream into the pudding mixture until no white streaks remain. Cover and chill the remaining whipped cream for serving.

To assemble the pie:

1. Spread a small amount of the pudding mixture over the bottom and sides of the pie crust.
2. Slice the bananas and toss in the lemon juice. Arrange in an even layer on the bottom and sides of the pie crust.
3. Fold the toasted coconut, chopped macadamia nuts, and drained pineapple into the remaining pudding mixture.
4. Pour the pudding mixture over bananas in pie shell.
5. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until ready to serve (at least one hour).
6. When ready to serve, spread the remaining whipped topping over the pie. Slice and serve, garnishing with additional toasted coconut, chopped macadamia nuts, and maraschino cherries if desired.

Notes

*drain as much liquid as possible off of the pineapple. I dump the pineapple into a fine mesh sieve and press it down with the back of a spoon until I'm sure that I've drained all of the liquid off.

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