I figured it was a one time type of donation. What widow needs twenty waffle cones after all? We went through all but two or three of them. A couple weeks later, she got them again.
We still had some left from the first time, which is similar to the age old dilemma of cereal and milk. You need to pour the right amount of milk over your cereal so that when you take the last bite, you have neither milk nor cereal left in the bowl. If there is milk left, you are obligated to pour more cereal. If the cereal gets a bit dry, you are obligated to pour more milk.
I felt the same way about the cones. We didn't finish three of them, but it wasn't enough to get more ice cream. Then we had twenty more and if we got the same amount of ice cream as the last time we'd end up with six to eight more cones.
How much ice cream would we need to buy to use up eight cones? Or should we wait to see if we get more in a couple weeks, then we'd end up with twelve extra or so and we could maybe buy the same amount of ice cream to use them up. But if we got even more cones, we'd start the cycle all over again.
The dilemma sounded a lot like math to me, so I googled what I could do with leftover ice cream cones to use them all in one fell swoop. Banana cream pie came up. I had some bananas that needed to be used or put in the freezer. We had four loaves of banana bread already in the freezer. So I thought it would be worth trying.
However, the recipe used sugar cones, not waffle cones. So I followed the directions and used about half the cones. It's made into a crust similar to a graham cracker crust. Then I thought perhaps it was too much because waffle cones are bigger then sugar cones and I added more butter, maybe more salt or something. I kind of went into a waffle cone stupor by that point.
I decided to make a second pie to use all the cones, but I was out of butter. I used coconut oil instead. Then I added other things; I think. I really am unclear as to what my thought process was by then; maybe because my youngest came in and exclaimed how much she like cream pies and it felt like a lot of pressure.
After I assembled the pies and they sat in the fridge, I attempted to make the meringue and totally failed. I think I got some yolks in the egg whites and I've heard even a little bit of yolk will make the whites unwhippable. I had some leftover Cool Whip, so I just spread that on top. This turned out to work better because had I made meringue we would've been a couple hours away from being able to eat it. My daughter was circling so I was able to throw pie at here immediately.
So here's the down low for me. I didn't care for it. It may have been my convoluted thought process or the coconut oil. The crust was way too salty. The butter one was better than the coconut one. I didn't like the texture of the crust, either. Instead of pulsing the cones, I should've just set it on grind and let it be a mushy texture.
And the bananas were too ripe for my taste. The kids liked it. Maybe it was just because it was cream pie and they were determined to enjoy it. I like the taste of a greener banana, which wouldn't really go too well in cream pie. But just not as ripe as the ones I had. I've looked up the health benefits of bananas. They have different benefits depending on their ripeness. Here's my favorite website on the topic: http://godfruits.tv/best-time-eat-banana-health-benifit/_.
Anyway, here's the recipe. If I end up with more waffle cones, I'll probably try it again without salt and only with butter, because I can do better. I'm just going bananas.
Banana Cream Pie (from the Food Network)
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 10 sugar cones
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons whole milk
- 4 large eggs, separated
- 3/4 cup plus 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 3 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 2 bananas, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Directions
- Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Pulse the cones, salt and sugar in a food processor until coarsely ground. Add the melted butter and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse sand. Press on the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie dish. Bake until golden, 10 to 12 minutes; let cool completely.
- Make the filling: Bring 2 cups milk to a bare simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk the egg yolks, 3/4 cup sugar and the vanilla in a large bowl until smooth and pale. Whisk in the cornstarch. Slowly whisk the warm milk into the egg mixture, then pour into the saucepan and return to medium heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until the custard thickens and begins to bubble, about 2 minutes. Stir in the butter until melted. Strain the custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl; set aside to cool, stirring frequently.
- Put the remaining 2 tablespoons milk and the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl; microwave 1 minute. Stir until the chocolate melts, then let cool slightly.
- Spread the chocolate over the bottom and up the sides of the crust. Press the bananas into the chocolate, then pour the custard over the bananas. Cover and chill until set, at least 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Make the meringue: Beat the egg whites in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and half of the remaining 1/3 cup sugar and beat until opaque. Add the remaining sugar and beat until stiff peaks form, about 5 more minutes.
- Swirl the meringue on the pie with the back of a spoon. Bake until golden brown in spots, 5 to 8 minutes. Let sit at room temperature until set, about 1 hour, 30 minutes.