Bananaaaaaa.
You were supposed to read that in Minion voice, FYI.
If you didn’t do so, now’s your chance for redemption…
Anyway.
Have you ever tried banana cream pie before?
I sure hadn’t, because I always thought berry pies with beaucoup de crust were superior to all other pie friends.
Well, besides pumpkin and pecan pie, but those guys are kind of reserved for Turkey Day only.
And peanut butter pie is a whole other breed, so we don’t even consider him.
Truth be told, I always thought banana cream pie was kind of uh, well gross.
I like bananas, I really do, but something about putting naners in a pie with pudding seemed a leeetle bit funky.
And I’m a fan of funk for sure, so you know I had to eventually get around to trying it out and forcing myself to like the stuff.
That whole mindset doesn’t always work.
Hello raw oysters and clams. No one likes you–even the boujee posers who pretend they adore your literally snotty characteristics–so just go away already, okay?
Back to pie.
My bf (yeah turns out I won’t be single for all of eternity) is banana cream pie’s #1 fan, so you can say my opinion has been recently swayed… just a bit.
You know what they say about the way to a man’s heart.
So I did some Google research and found an intriguing recipe from my fellow food blogger, Minimalist Baker, for a vegan and gluten-free banana cream pie.
Well damn, say no more.
So I did some tweaking and ended up concocting Mini Vegan Coconut Banana Cream Pies.
Because I have in fact had coconut cream pie which is darn near the bee’s knees.
Thank you Tom Douglas.
So let’s get to it, shall we?
Now this recipe is a little time consuming so set aside like a couple days to see this baby off from start to finish.
Because we got a nutty crust composed of rolled oats, unsalted almonds, organic cane sugar, sea salt, and tropical unrefined coconut oil, topped with fresh banana slices, a luscious coconut almond vanilla pudding, more fresh banana slices, dreamy lightly sweetened coconut “whipped cream,” and toasted unsweetened coconut flakes!
Drool.
See the recipe card for the breakdown because I’m not about to type all that up again, whew.
But trust me, this recipe is worth the sweat and potential tears.
P.S. Ahh I didn’t tell the bf it was in fact vegan and gluten-free but he didn’t care if he did suspect as much. Make sure your oats are gluten-free to make this actually a gluten-free dream.
P.P.S. I struggle to find canned coconut cream, so I use cans of refrigerated full-fat coconut milk instead. Just scrape that thick, lush “cream” off the top of each can and leave all the liquidy liquid at the bottom behind. See this handy dandy video for tips and visuals.
P.P.P.S. My crust baked up a tad crumbly so I ate the pies straight out the pan… no judgement please. So if you want to remove the pies, perhaps use muffin liners or just be sure to really press and compact your crust into the pan’s bottom and sides before baking.
P.P.P.P.S. I use an unsweetened unflavored coconut almond milk blend (like Califia) but if you can’t get your hands on the stuff, feel free to try out unsweetened unflavored coconut milk beverage or almond milk.