Are you not already hooked on this pie? Because if you aren’t, then you should be. Unless you’re allergic to nuts and dairy. And even then, you still might be good friends with this pie (perhaps served with Benadryl because it is that worth it).

It has been a long time since I did a taste test, and to be honest, I hadn’t totally planned to do this one (hence photos of the process are lacking). But this week’s You Capture challenge is food, and so I thought I might as well kill two monkeys with one pie.

For this taste test, I followed Our Best Bites’ recipe for Chunky Monkey banana cream pie, which to me sounds like all kinds of amazing goodness. Peanut butter. Bananas. Cream. Pie. Did I mention peanut butter? Pretty much my go-to favorite comfort food of all time. Plus, they promised easy. What more could a girl ask for? And I consider myself a fair hand at baking…so what could go wrong with a pie that doesn’t even require actual baking?

Well.

So the recipe calls for Jell-o pudding packets. The ones I found in the store specified vanilla pudding and pie filling. Had to be the right ones, right? Mayhaps not. The Best Bites recipe said to mix the pudding with cold water. The package said to mix with boiling water. I went with the recipe because they’ve never steered me wrong yet. I figured, well, maybe it requires different methods for this recipe. (Possibly bad decision here.)

Then, for the chunky monkey varietal, they specified to use Oreo pie crusts. And me, I’m all about the Oreo. Ralphs, where I went shopping? No, apparently they are only fans of the graham cracker. So I had to buy graham cracker crusts – partially because I was too lazy to try another store. But I was quite certain that hint of chocolate flavor was necessary for optimum monkey chunk. So what did I do? I grabbed me some Hershey’s cocoa powder from the cupboard, poured a spoonful on the crust and rubbed it in with my fingers. (Pretty sure this was a good decision.) So my graham cracker crust came with a chocolate layer.

So I followed the recipe. Made lovely peaks with the cream. Blended peanut butter in beautifully with pudding. Allowed to set. But then, as I was folding the pudding mixture in with the cream mixture, I noticed my pudding mixture was distinctly runnier than theirs appeared to be. I was not so much folding it as I was scooping and smooshing…and oh, what the heck, kind of stirring it. Pudding had apparently not gelled as much as it should have. Mild panic began to set in at this point.

But I stubbornly persisted. Ignoring the fact that my pies might be doomed, I continued compiling them as if nothing is wrong and then placed them in the fridge to chill. And then checked on them every 15 minutes thereafter like a deranged mother hen to see how they are progressing. At an hour, they did not look much better. Recipe says they must stay in for several hours. So I continued to ignore the panic and prayed they would gel.

They did not gel. I had stupidly made grandiose promises to friends that I would have a pie for them that evening, and it was quickly time to meet them for dinner. In a last fit of desperation, I stuck it in the freezer, praying I would not be serving our friends chunky monkey banana cream soup, and simultaneously petrified said pie might explode in freezer.

At dinner, however, I warned our friends the pie might end in tears. Such good friends they are, they promised chunky monkey banana cream soup is probably lovely anyway.

We got back home, and I gingerly removed the pie from the freezer, took off the lid…and TA DA! Chunky monkey banana cream pie – ICED! Which translates to: chunky monkey banana cream pie ice cream. Which might possibly be even better than just plain ol’ pie, and is most certainly manna from the heavens.

Verdict? ♥♥♥♥♥ Omigod this is awesome, I could eat it every night! (Except I probably won’t because I do like fitting into my jeans.)

Success! I am definitely having this again. I am so committed to it, I’m going to try it again doing the pudding part the way the package suggests. And even if the pie does turn out perfectly, I shall put it in the freezer because it is just that good cold.

———————–
Rating System:
♥♥♥♥♥ Omigod this is awesome, I could eat it every night!
♥♥♥♥ Wow this is amazing for a special meal!
♥♥♥ Great choice for a dinner party!
♥♥ Hey, that was pretty good. We should have it again sometime.
♥ Eh. S’all right….
♠ Ugh, no! That was so bad I just had to share.