My favorite banana caramel pie, a no-bake pie with bananas, easy candied walnuts, and delicious cream cheese, yogurt and heavy cream filling.
This no-bake banana caramel pie with candied walnuts is addictive! Really! If you had it once, you will keep making it again and again. And you will get tired of writing down the recipe for all the people who will ask for it.
I’ve made this banana cream pie for the first time many years ago for my mother-in-law’s birthday. I wanted something particularly sweet for her major sweet tooth, hence the caramel and the bananas, yet something easy, preferably no-bake.
So, I chose this banana caramel pie with easy candied walnuts.
Ever since, I’ve kept making this banana pie with cream cheese and candied walnuts again and again and it never disappointed. It is just amazing!
I have a weakness for no-bake cheesecakes or, in this case, pie. Sometimes they are a pure no-bake affair, meaning that the crust is also a no-bake kind of crust made with butter biscuits or similar products, for instance, the Apricot Cheesecake or the No-Bake Blueberry Lemon Curd Cheesecake.
Sometimes I combine a baked base with a no-bake cheese filling, for instance, yesterday’s Passion Fruit Cheesecake or the Strawberry Yogurt Cheesecake.
INGREDIENTS
- I use typical German butter cookies or biscuits from Leibniz or a similar product to make the pie crust for the banana cream pie. I like these biscuits, they are crunchy and light and sweet enough to use in a pie.
- For a special flavor I sometimes mix them with amarettini or other spicier biscuits/cookies, but most of the times, the no bake crusts I make are a simple affair, a mixture of these nice biscuits and some melted butter.
- If you would like a touch of chocolate in this pie, you could use some chocolate biscuits or wafers to make the crust as well.
- I make the filling with Dr. Oetker gelatine sheets . A similar product would be fine. For detailed instructions on working with gelatine, have a look at this post No Bake Ricotta Sour Cream Cheesecake.
- The original recipe used pecan nuts instead of walnuts. However, pecan nuts are not so readily available in Germany and when they are, they are very expensive, so I replace them with walnuts most of the time, I like walnuts better anyway, and although they are not exactly cheap either, they still cost less than pecan nuts.
- The filling is a mixture of cream cheese, creamy yogurt and whipped heavy/double cream. Make sure to use pure and good, unsweetened cream for the filling, it makes all the difference.
- We are used with using overripe bananas in cakes or desserts. However, in this case, you should choose ripe yet still firm, yellow bananas. Leave the overripe bananas for some delicious banana bread like this Vegan Banana Bread.
Other delicious pies:
Skinny Pumpkin Cinnamon Pie – Vegan, Low-Fat and Low Sugar
Vanilla Cream Pie – Romanian Cremsnit
Flaky Apple Hazelnut Pie with Cinnamon
The Best Rhubarb Meringue Pie – German Recipe
Autumn Fruit Pie with Cream Topping
Banana Caramel Pie - No-Bake Pie
My favorite banana caramel pie, a no-bake pie with bananas, easy candied walnuts, and delicious cream cheese, yogurt, and heavy cream filling.
Ingredients
- Pie Crust:
- 200 g/ 7 oz butter biscuits/cookies (or graham crackers or similar products)
- 100 g/ 3.5 oz/ ½ cup butter
- Banana Pie Filling:
- 4 leaves Dr. Oetker gelatin
- 100 g/ 3.5 oz/ ½ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 225 g/ 7.9 oz/ 1 cup cream cheese
- 250 g/ 8.8 oz/ 1 cup creamy yogurt
- 400 g/ 14 oz/ 1 2/3 cup heavy/double cream
- 3 large bananas, not overripe
- Candied Walnuts:
- 65 g/ 2.2 oz/ ½ cup chopped walnuts
- 30 g/ 1 oz/ 1/8 cup sugar
- ½ tablespoon butter
- Decoration:
- 1 banana
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- some lemon zest, optional
Instructions
Pie Crust:
- Break the butter biscuits/cookies into smaller pieces and process them in a food processor until they resemble breadcrumbs. Alternatively, place the biscuits into a freezer bag and crush them finely with a large rolling pin.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan, add the butter to the crushed biscuits and mix together. Press the mixture into a buttered springform of about 24-26 cm/ 9.5-10 inches diameter. Refrigerate while you make the filling.
Filling:
- Cover the gelatin with cold water and soak for 10 minutes or according to the packet's instructions.
- Place the sugar and the milk into a small saucepan. Heat while stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil and stir until the mixture thickens slightly. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. Squeeze the bloomed gelatin slightly and stir it thoroughly into the sugar mixture.
- Place the cream cheese and yogurt into a bowl. Mix well and add the caramelized sugar. Place the filling into the fridge until it begins to set. It should only begin to set, not set entirely.
- In the meantime, beat the double/heavy cream until stiff. Fold it carefully into the cream cheese mixture.
- Halve 3 bananas lengthwise. Place the banana pieces onto the pie crust. Carefully pour the cream cheese filling over the bananas. Refrigerate the cake for at least 3-4 hours or overnight.
Candied walnuts:
- In the meantime make the candied walnuts and leave them cool completely on a piece of baking paper until ready to use.
- Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat. Add the sugar and the butter. When the sugar and the butter start to melt, add the chopped walnuts and stir well to coat them with the butter-sugar mixture all over. Keep stirring for about 3-4 minutes or until the walnuts are nicely caramelized.
- Place the walnuts onto a piece of baking paper. Separate slightly so that the walnuts don't stick together into a clump, but rather lay in a single layer or as separate as possible. Let cool completely.
Decorate:
- Only place the candied walnuts and the last banana on top of the pie just before serving.
- Slice the remaining banana and turn the slices into the lemon juice. Arrange the banana slices around the edges of the pie.
- Chop the candied walnuts and place them on top of the cake inside the circle you formed with the banana slices.
- Decorate the cake with some lemon zest as well, if desired.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 sliceAmount Per Serving: Calories: 552Total Fat: 40gSaturated Fat: 23gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 118mgSodium: 234mgCarbohydrates: 45gFiber: 2gSugar: 28gProtein: 7g
Nutritional information is not always accurate.
Thao @ In Good Flavor
Saturday 14th of April 2018
You've hit another one out of the park, Adina! This is a gorgeous pie and I'm going to have to think of an excuse to make one soon! I know it will be a complete hit!
grace
Wednesday 11th of April 2018
i LOVE banana cream pie! the candied walnuts are a wonderful touch and something i fully intend to try!
Anca
Tuesday 10th of April 2018
The filling should work great without the gelatin too, if you are looking for a vegetarian alternative. I like banoffee kind of pies and this one sounds really great. Love the decor too.
Sissi
Sunday 8th of April 2018
So beautiful! You are right: it's for people with a particularly sweet tooth, such as my husband! If I made your passion fruit cake and this one, we would both have our dream cakes!
Monica
Saturday 7th of April 2018
This looks fantastic! I know my husband would particularly love this and I personally find the candied walnut topping genius. : )