Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie

Girl HATES peanut butter. She had an allergic reaction to it as a toddler and was told not to eat it for so many years that, even when she outgrew the allergy (it’s rare to outgrow an allergy, folks, so don’t give your kid something that they’ve been previously allergic to without a doctor’s supervision; we tried it in the allergist’s office, Epi-Pen at the ready…six years after the initial reaction,) she was still a bit leery of it and never developed a taste for it. It’s only in the past few years that she’ll tolerate other nuts, but she does now LOVE pecans and will eat almond or cashew butter. Peanuts, however, are still a powerful “NO.” At least she no longer has to be segregated at the “peanut-free” lunch table, which is a very good thing.
Anyway…Girl was away at a sleepover last night, so I decided to make this pie for Hubby and Boy, who are MAJOR peanut butter lovers. I made it a few weeks ago to take to a friend who has been sick, and it looked wonderful during assembly, but I didn’t get to taste any of it, so I figured a do-over was overdue. (Ha! I crack myself up!)
The pie is fabulous (recipe here) and rich. The vanilla pudding layer is VERY flavorful and the bananas stay surprisingly fresh after a short orange juice bath. The peanut butter layer is just a little salty and tangy. Mmmm…very nice.
The pie isn’t difficult or terribly time-consuming to make, but it has to be made in stages and requires chilling time in between the steps, so it definitely can’t be made at the last minute. In fact, if you’re planning to make it tonight, you should start the prep by at least noon, because it requires a total of 4 hours of chilling (plus some cooking/baking time.) If you don’t start early, you’ll be eating dessert at 11 pm.
Worth the effort, though. Hubby liked enough that he went back for seconds before bedtime. Enjoy!
Hint: 6 ounces of Nilla Wafers = 46 wafers, for anyone that might not have a kitchen scale.