Banana Cream Pie Redux

Fear not! I have conquered the banana cream pie... and all it took was a graham cracker crust, a little bit of gelatin and about 3 different saucepans. No worries, it was delicious. Kate wasn't thrilled, and Zachary refused to try it, but that just left more for me. Next is coconut cream....

Old-Fashioned Banana Cream Pie
From The New Good Housekeeping Cookbook (mine is from 1986)
1 1/4 c. milk
1/8 t. salt
3 eggs separated, at room temperature
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1 t. vanilla extract
1 c. heavy whipping cream
1/4 t. ground nutmeg

1. Pre-bake a store bought graham cracker pie crust according to package directions.

2. In a heavy 1-qt. saucepan, beat milk, salt, egg yolks, and 1/4 c. sugar until well mixed. Sprinkle gelatin evenly over mixture; let stand 1 minute to soften gelatin slightly. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and coats a spoon (do not boil or mixture will curdle). Remove saucepan from heat; stir in vanilla. Refrigerate gelatin mixture, stirring occasionally, until mixture mounds slightly when dropped from a spoon, about 40 minutes.

3. In large bowl, with mixer at high speed, beat egg whites until soft peaks form; gradually sprinkle in 1/3 cup sugar, beating until sugar completely dissolves and whites stand in stiff peaks.

4. In small bowl, using same beaters, with mixer at medium speed, beat heavy cream until stiff peaks form. With rubber spatula or wire shisk, gently fold whipped cream and gelatin mixture into egg whites. Spoon mixuture into pie shell; sprinkle filling with ground nutmeg. Refrigerate pie about 3 hours or until filling is set.

5. Line cooled pie shell with sliced bananas just before spooning in filling.