Healthy Banana Cream Pie

March 2nd is National Banana Cream Pie Day! I found this out this morning so I couldn't help myself to pull some healthy ingredients together and make one! Here is what you will need:

Crust:

1 cup of almonds

1/4 cup dark Chocolate (chips or bar)

3 graham crackers

2 Tablespoons Coconut oil (use butter if you don't have)

(you can make it simple with just almonds or just graham crackers)

Filling & Meringue Top:

2 or 3 bananas

3 eggs

2 cups of almond milk (or regular milk)

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup maple syrup (or other sweetener)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup sweetener (sugar, maple syrup, agave, stevia, etc) to make Meringue

First you will make your crust. I used my food processor but you can use a coffee grinder if you don't have one. Blend together Almonds and chocolate. When it looks like first picture add graham crackers and coconut oil and blend just until all mixed together.

 I had my little sleepy head help push the ingredients down to the bottom of a pie pan.

Next we will make the banana cream.

You want to separate two eggs, yolks and whites. If you haven't done this before what I do is let the white run into a bowl while holding the yolk in half of the shell, as pictured. Transfer the yolk back and forth from the two halves of the shell and most of the white would fall into bowl below! Now mix together two egg yolks, 1/4 cup maple syrup, and 2 Tablespoons cornstarch.

 Add milk and yolk mixture to sauce pan and cook on medium heat for about ten+ minutes, stirring constantly until it's kind of like pudding consistency.

 I added the custard mixture to my food processor (or blender) and blended it with two bananas. The third banana I cut up and put along the bottom with the crust. I heated the banana and custard mixture for five more minutes on the stove then added it to my pie crust.

To make meringue, all you need is three egg whites and 1/4 cup of sweetener. Blend together until peeks form.

 Add to the top of the pie and bake for 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

*A tip, if you aren't serving right away, would be to leave out the Meringue topping and just cover and refrigerate. When ready to eat just whip up some fresh whipped topping (Blended heavy cream and sweetener until thick).