Important Pages:

Rocky Mountain Diner White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie

Subject: Banana Cream Pie
From: Pete
Date: 2/25/2019, 10:44 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com

On 2/24/2019 10:51 PM, Pete wrote:
Looking for recipe for banana cream pie from Rocky Mountain Diner in Denver, 
which closed in 2011. Any recipes from 1991 to 2011 would be appreciated.
Thank you for hunting them down.
Pete

Hello Pete,

First, here is a description of the pie from an article about the diner at: Back for More at Rocky Mountain Diner
...white chocolate black-bottom banana cream pie ($4.99). With its buttery graham cracker crust, fresh banana slices, vanilla cream filling, and voluminous whipped cream...

Note that one of the co-owners of the Rocky Mountain Diner, Tom Walls, also operates the Castle Cafe in the Castle Hotel at 403 Wilcox St, Castle Rock, CO, and they serve the same pie:  Westword
From the article: Walls' son Dillon (who's a co-owner at the Castle), says that, yes, the Castle Cafe serves the same pie once adored by patrons of the Rocky Mountain Diner. 'In fact, the majority of our menu includes items that were at the Rocky Mountain Diner all the way back in 1991,' Dillon adds. 'And many of our cooks worked at the Diner as well.'

The Castle Cafe menu describes the pie as White Chocolate, Black-Bottom Banana Cream Pie.
See: Castle Cafe Menu

I had no success finding a recipe on the Internet for this pie. However, my search brought up an item about a book called Recipes from Historic Colorado: a restaurant guide and cookbook by Linda Bauer and Steve Bauer. That item lists all of the recipes to be found in that book, and Rocky Mountain Diner's "White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie" is one of those listed.
See: Worldcat

That cookbook seemed familiar to me, but it was not listed in the "old index" of the recipe books that we have. However, I decided to search our little library, and I found that we did indeed have it, but it had not been added to the "old index" yet.  The authors of this book actually go to the restaurants and obtain the recipes that are in their books. The "Rocky Mountain Diner's White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie" recipe is below. The book is available both new and used at Amazon.

However, I must add a caveat to this finding. Note the description above of the Rocky Mountain Diner pie: "white chocolate black-bottom banana cream pie." Also note the description from the Castle Cafe menu of their pie: "White Chocolate Black-Bottom Banana Cream Pie."  To me, black-bottomed has always meant that a pie so-described has a layer of chocolate filling - cream or custard, etc - at the bottom of the filling. The online dictionary agrees: Black-Bottom Pie - pie with a bottom layer of chocolate cream or custard and a contrasting top layer, usually of whipped cream.

The recipe in the book Recipes from Historic Colorado: a restaurant guide and cookbook is not called "black-bottom" and does not have a chocolate bottom layer. I cannot explain this, and I did not find an explanation during research. Perhaps the pie changed at some point in the life of the "Rocky Mountain Diner?"

Phaed

Rocky Mountain Diner White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie
Serves 8

1 pre-baked pie crust (larger tin;crust lightly golden
2 medium bananas, peeled, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 tablespoon pineapple juice
1 can whipped cream

Custard:

2 cups milk
2 tablespoons margarine
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs

Topping:

1/4 cup sugar
4 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder

Toss(mix) together bananas and pineapple juice; drain. Layer in bottom of crust.
Prepare the custard.

Custard:

Bring milk almost to a boil in kettle. Add margarine. Mix sugar and cornstarch in
a bowl with a whisk. Add salt, eggs and vanilla to bowl and whisk until smooth.
When milk is hot, add half of it to the bowl, whisk to dissolve and return all to
kettle. Whisk until very smooth. Cool in ice bath until mixture reaches 50 degrees.
Smooth top of custard and refrigerate for 24 hours.

When the custard has cooled, pour it into the pie crust, covering the bananas. 
Top with whipped cream. Sprinkle topping on pie.

Topping:

Combine sugar, white chocolate, and cocoa powder. Sprinkle on top of pie.