I’ll be the first to admit that anything food related makes me extremely happy. And really, it’s no secret.

When I received a bunch of cookbooks for Christmas I felt like a little kid. I cart them around the house and page through them day after day. Before I go to bed I read a cookbook and when I can’t sleep, I read a cookbook. So it’s no surprise that I’ve had new recipe ideas dancing through my head.

One recipe stood out to me for whatever reason, so I decided to make it.

Lily Rose’s White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie

I definitely didn’t pick this recipe for its simplicity because it was anything but simple. But oh so worth the effort! There are 3 parts:

Banana Graham Cracker Crust

•Cooking spray

•2 cups graham cracker crumbs

•1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

•1 small banana, peeled and mashed

1.) Preheat oven to 375°. Spray a pie dish with cooking spray. Combine melted butter, graham cracker crumbs and brown sugar until well mixed. Add banana and mix. Press the mixture in the dish on the bottom and up the sides. Bake until lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Remove and let cool.

Pastry Cream Filling

•1/3 cup cornstarch

•2 1/2 cups heavy cream

•2 cups sugar

•1/4 teaspoon salt

•1 TBS vanilla extract

•2 TBS butter

•5 large eggs

•4 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced

•1/2 cup white chocolate morsels (I put mine in a food processor to make it fine)

2.)Whisk together cornstarch and 1/2 cup cream. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine 2 cups of cream, vanilla, and butter and bring to a light simmer. Add cornstarch mixture and cook until mixture thickens. (It will look like a roux.) Stir in sugar and salt and stir until mixture begins to pull away from pan and looks like custard. Reduce heat to low and add egg yolks one at a time, stirring vigorously after adding each yolk. Remove from heat, continue stirring until creamy and let cool.

3.) Once crust and filling have cooled you can assemble the pie. Begin by adding a thin layer of the filling. Next, add a layer of banana, followed by white chocolate. Continue layering and finish with white chocolate on top.

4.) Here is the hardest part! Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4-12 hours. 12 hours?! I know, I know. It needs to set and I promise it all melts together and becomes even more delicious.

Whipped Cream Topping

•2 cups heavy cream

•1 TBS sugar

•1/2 tsp vanilla

•3/4 cup white chocolate (I put these in a food processor as well)

5.) Using an electric mixer on medium speed, whip cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar and vanilla and whip until cream holds firm peak. Using a spatula, spread the whipped cream over pie. Top with white chocolate.

I let it sit for longer than 12 hours and it still didn’t slice that well. It was kind of messy and not that pretty when sliced. But the taste made up for it all. The creamy filling, crunchy crust, light fluffy whipped cream…pretty sure that is what a slice of heaven would taste like.