Heather Made Me Do It

I posted a comment about Ellie Krieger's cookbook on Heather's post, and she totally called me out, asking about the chocolate and banana cream pies. It just so happens that at the time she was typing that comment, I was wondering what to do with the ripe bananas that were in my fridge, and the open container of quick oats that need to be finished. Well, friends, I wish I could tell you I had the strength not to do it, but I caved. And made pie. ~sigh~

bananas layered over an oatmeal cookie crust

I have posted a few recipes on here that call for gelatin. If you really want to know what it is (and don't already), I'll leave you to that. I've avoided thinking about it when I make these desserts, not knowing an alternative. I did some research and it seemed that equal amounts of powdered agar (also labeled agar agar) can be substituted for gelatin (1x). Well, I couldn't find powdered agar, only agar flakes, which can be substituted in a 3x amount for gelatin (if a recipe calls for 1t, you'd use 1T, or 3t, of agar flakes). The catch being agar flakes are harder to dissolve. Why do I bring this up? Because the Banana Cream Pie recipe calls for gelatin, so I figured I'd give these agar flakes a try. Here's what I did...


Banana Cream Pie



Oatmeal cookie crust, made with whole wheat flour and 1/4c total turbinado sugar (instead of the brown sugar and natural sugar)
3T + 1.5t agar flakes
3T water
1/4c turbinado sugar
3T WW pastry flour
2 egg yolks
1.5c skim milk
1/2t vanilla extract (for some reason I halved this, don't know why, but I'd use at least 1t)
2 large bananas, sliced


Put the agar flakes and water in a small bowl or glass measuring cup and microwave 30sec to get the agar to start to dissolve. In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar and the flour. In a medium bowl lightly beat the milk and eggs together, then add to saucepan and whisk so flour and sugar dissolve. Cook over a medium heat, stirring occasionallyuntil mixture comes to a boil and has thickened. Stir in the vanilla extract and agar mixture and continue to boil until agar completely dissolves. I let this boil for awhile and it didn't completely dissolve, not sure how to fix this, but I kep going...

Arrange the sliced bananas on the graham cracker crust and pour the pudding on top. Place in the refrigerator until the pudding has set, about 3 hours or overnight. Serve with fresh whipped cream, if desired. I did not, so I just enjoyed it in all its glory :) And how was Ellie's banana cream pie? I guess I didn't really make it... hehe

I couldn't tell that the agar wasn't completely dissolved by taste or texture, but you could kind of see it (click to enlarge the photo of the finished pie). It did set well enough, so it does seem like a good substitute, I'm just not sure if this was the way it's supposed to be or not. Feel free to chime in if you've used it for puddings!

I gave some to a friend of mine who reads the blog (Hi Rebecca!), so maybe she'll chime in with how she liked it :)

A couple more notes about agar:

--Acidic foods may require more agar (citrus, strawberries)

--Some foods may not work: kiwi, pineapple, fresh figs, papaya, mango, peaches, chocolate and spinach

Here are my sources:

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/gelling.html

http://www.foodsubs.com/ThickenGelatins.html

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/Agar.htm