Need a dessert that will “wow” the crowd at your 4th of July BBQ? Look no further than this award-winning and patriotic banana-cream pie.

A few years ago, I entered this pie in a contest in my town for the 4th of July. The only rule was that you needed to include strawberry as an ingredient. Everyone knows that strawberry and banana make a delicious combo! If you don’t like banana – you could substitute any kind of cream based pie.

My pie won 3rd place out of 16 pies. I was pretty happy to be on the podium if you will! After the contest was over, the judges sold the slices from the pies for $1.00 a slice, to be donated back to the town. The winning pies disappeared fast!

Strawberry Banana Cream Pie

This recipe was adapted from the Betty Crocker cookbook.

Ingredients
Pastry for one-crust pie
Two large bananas
4 large egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla plus 1 teaspoon
1 cup sweetened whipped cream
2 cups strawberries
1/2 cup blueberries

Directions

1. Prepare and bake a pastry for a one-crust pie. If you make enough for two crusts, you can freeze the other. The pie crust recipe I like to use is shortening based, but you can also use butter. After it’s baked, slice two large bananas into the bottom of the pie crust.
2. Beat egg yolks with a fork in a medium bowl; set aside. Mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt in 2-quart saucepan. Gradually stir in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute.
3. Immediately stir at least half of the hot mixture gradually into egg yolks, then stir back into hot mixture in saucepan. Boil and stir 1 minute; remove from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla. Pour into pie crust over the bananas. Press plastic wrap on filling to prevent a tough layer from forming on top. Refrigerate at least 2 hours until set.

American Flag Decoration:

1. Remove plastic wrap. Cut strawberries into triangles, with the skin of the strawberries remaining on one edge.
2. Beginning at the bottom of the pie make a row of strawberries, then a row of whipped cream. You can pipe the whipped cream through a cake decorating tip, or just use a sandwich bag by filling the bag with whipped cream and cutting a small piece from the corner of the bottom of the bag. Then squeeze the whipped cream through.
3. Once you get to where the stars on the American flag would be, use blueberries to fill in the space. Finish the rows of strawberries and whipped cream.

Enjoy! Have a safe and wonderful 4th of July!