monday shmonday

banana rum cream pie.

my day at work was quite uneventful, mainly due to my lack of motivation to actually get to work. but that being the case, i checked my gmail regularly throughout the day and ended up email-chatting (since the chat feature is blocked at work) with my sister, cl. then she started flooded my inbox with recipes forwarded from epicurious.com - yay, i now had something to do - and that would be to browse various dessert recipes and decide which one i wanted to tackle that evening.
the winner was banana rum cream pie. sound delicious? it is.
the hubby had to pick up heavy cream and dark brown sugar since i was all out, but everything else i had handy. oh, and as a slight variation to the recipe below, i also added about half a cup of grated coconut to the graham cracker crust for that extra bit of island flavor.
and now, the recipe:

ingredients:
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs from 9 (4 3/4 - by 2 1/4-inch) crackers
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon curry powder (preferably Madras)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
1 cup chilled heavy cream
4 teaspoons dark rum
4 firm-ripe bananas

special equipment: a 9-inch pie plate

steps:
put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

stir together crumbs, butter, curry powder, cinnamon, and 2 tablespoons brown sugar in a bowl with a fork until combined well. press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom and up side of pie plate. bake crust 10 minutes, then cool completely in pie plate on a rack, about 20 minutes.

beat together cream cheese, zest, and remaining 6 tablespoons brown sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.

beat cream with rum in another bowl with cleaned beaters at medium speed until it holds soft peaks. gently stir one third of whipped cream into cream cheese mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining whipped cream gently but thoroughly.
thinly slice bananas and arrange evenly over bottom of crust. Spread all of cream filling over bananas, then sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over top. Chill pie, loosely covered, 20 minutes.

result: delicious! i read user reviews who mentioned the lack of rum flavor, so i added quite a bit more - can't remember how much more, but enough so i could actually smell it. mmm. this recipe is easy-peasy! we waited 30mins for it to chill in the fridge... and it was nicely set. i can only imagine how yummy it will be when i steal a slice after work today. :)
enjoy!