Caramelized Banana Pudding Pie

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Set aside 30 vanilla wafers; pulse the remaining vanilla wafers in a food processor 8 to 10 times or until coarsely crushed. (Yield should be about 2 1/2 cups.) Stir together crushed vanilla wafers and 1/2 cup melted butter until blended. Firmly press the mixture on the bottom, up sides, and onto the lip of a 9-inch pie plate.

Bake crust at 350° for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove it from the oven and set the pan on a wire rack, and let crust completely cool.

Cook brown sugar, cinnamon and 1/4 cup butter in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly, 2 to 3 minutes or until bubbly. Add banana slices; stir and cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat.

Arrange caramelized banana slices evenly over bottom of crust.

For the vanilla cream filling: Whisk together 3/4 cups of sugar, 1/3 cup of flour, 2 eggs, 4 egg yolks and 2 cups of milk in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, 8 to 10 minutes or until it reaches the thickness of chilled pudding. (Mixture will just begin to bubble and will be thick enough to hold soft peaks when whisk is lifted.) Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla. Use immediately.

Spread half of hot filling over the bananas in the pie plate; top with 20 of the reserved Vanilla Wafers. Spread remaining hot filling over Vanilla Wafers. (Filling will be about 1/4 inch higher than top edge of crust.)

For the topping:
Put egg whites into a medium-sized bowl. Beat egg whites at high speed with an electric mixer until foamy. Add remaining sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form and sugar dissolves. Spread meringue evenly over hot filling, sealing the edges.

Bake at 350°F for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven, and let the pie cool for 1 hour on a wire rack or until completely cool. Coarsely crush the remaining 10 reserved Vanilla Wafers, and sprinkle evenly over top of pie. Chill 4 hours.

Recipe adapted from Southern Living.