Banana Rum Cream Pie

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs from 9 crackers
5 tbl unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp curry powder (Madras)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c packed dark brown sugar
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1 c chilled heavy cream
4 tsp dark rum
4 firm ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Have rack in middle position.
Stir together crumbs, butter, curry powder, cinnamon and 2 tbl brown sugar in a bowl with a fork until well combined. Reserve 1 tbl crumb mixture for garnish. Press remaining crumb mixture evenly into the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Bake crust for 10 minutes. Then cool completely about 20 minutes

Beat together cream cheese, zest and remaining 6 tbl brown sugar in a bowl with electric mixer on high speed - until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.

Beat cream with rum in another bowl with clean baters at medium speed until it holds soft peaks. Gently stir in one third of the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining whipped cream thoroughly (But gently please!)
Thinly slice banans and arrange evenly over bottom of crust. Spread all of the cream filling over the bananas then sprinkly reserved crumb mixture over the top. Chill pie, loosely covered for about 20 minutes.

This recipe is from the March 2007 issue of Gourmet
The curry really brings out all the flavors in the crust it makes it so good. I made this pie twice - once with cinnamon graham crackers, once with plain. I reduced the amount of cinnamon added to the crust to compensate - both were good. =)

4.5 out of 5.