Banana Coconut Ice Cream Pie

I know. I'm picky about a lot of things. I turn my nose up at jam thumbprint cookies and anything with raisins but then I go and pick something with coconut AND bananas for Tuesdays with Dorie! I hadn't even noticed this recipe in Baking from My Home to Yours any of the one million times I'd opened it before. When it came time for my recipe selection, it jumped right out at me.

In New England, the weather has been gorgeous and I've been out grilling quite regularly. It seemed the perfect time to start making some ice cream desserts and celebrate the season. I should have made my own ice cream for this dessert but I was worried about it being too soft for the pie. I went with a hometown favorite- Brighams chocolate ice cream instead.

The crust of this pie is the star. Toasted coconut, butter and butter cookies pressed into a pie (or tart) pan. You could cut the crust up and just eat it like a cookie. Or if you dislike banana (bless the banana haters), fill the crust with just ice cream. Any kind of ice cream really. You'd be perfectly happy. In fact, I was when I made it again in little muffin cups filled with coffee ice cream.Or you can follow the recipe and add a puree of bananas and rum(!) to the chocolate ice cream to fill that coconut crust. I changed it up a bit by reducing the amount of banana and adding some chocolate chips to the puree. Extra chocolate never hurt anyone. Extra rum didn't either. Leave it to me to pick a recipe with alcohol in it.

On that note I added a little hot fudge to the top when it came time for a close up of the pie. I've been eating this all week for dinner while plotting what I'm going to fill that coconut crust up with next. David Lebovitz's coconut ice cream perhaps? a coconut extravaganza.

Thanks to all who bravely baked along with me this week- although funny enough, there was no actual baking involved which makes it another perfect warm weather dessert. The full recipe follows.

Banana- Chocolate Ice Cream Pie
Dorie Greenspan
Makes 8 servings

For the Crust
1 stick (8 tbs) unsalted butter
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
5 butter cookies, such as LU Petit Beurre or shortbread, crushed into crumbs (about 1/2 cup)

1 ripe but firm banana

For the Filling
2 very ripe bananas
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbs dark rum
1 pint premium-quality chocolate ice cream

For Serving
1 rip but firm banana
1 tsp lemon juice

To Make the Crust:
Butter a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate.
Melt the butter in a medium heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the coconut and cook, stirring without stopping, until golden brown. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cookie crumbs. Turn the mixture into the pie plate and press it over the bottom and up the sides. Freeze for 30 minutes. (If you'd like, once the dough is frozen, you can wrap the pie plate and keep it in the freezer for up to 2 months.)
Cut the firm banana into thin slices and arrange the slices over the crust.

To Make the Filling:
Cut the bananas into chunks and toss them into a food processor along with the lemon juice and rum. Process until you have a smooth puree, scraping down the bowl as needed, about 20 seconds. Add the ice cream and pulse the machine on and off in quick spurts, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, about 8 times, or just until the ingredients are blended- don't process so long that the ice cream melts.

Scrape the ice cream into the piecrust and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Cover the pie with plastic wrap and freeze it for at least 4 hours. (If you want to keep the pie longer, wrap it airtight and freeze up to 2 months.)

When you are ready to serve, slice the firm banana into very thin rounds, toss the slices with the lemon juice (to keep from blackening) and arrange the rounds in decorative circles on the top of the pie.

Playing Around: In addition to whatever add-ins you might want to include (Spike adds chocolate chips to the banana puree), you can also change the flavor of ice cream. Dorie sometimes makes this pie with vanilla ice cream, but the filling is not a pure color- the bananas turn the ice cream a little dark. This never bothers her!

Serving: Once the top banana is in place, the pie is ready to be served. It can be served plain, but, in keeping with the tropical theme, some sweetened whipped cream would be nice- or even whipped cream with a splash of rum.

Storing: Without the banana decoration, the pie can be wrapped airtight and frozen up to 2 months; serve tight from the freezer.