BLACK RIVER BANANA PIE

Ingredients:
PASTRY
1½ cups plain flour
¼ cup icing sugar
90 g butter
2 eggs
1 Tbl water. (approx)

FILLING
2 X 250g packets cream cheese
½ cup castor sugar
4 ripe bananas
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 Tbl rum (optional)

Method:
Grease a 20cm springform tin. Sift dry pastry ingredients into bowl, rub in butter.

Add egg yolks and enough water to make ingredients cling together. Press mixture into ball, gently knead on lightly floured surface until smooth, cover, refrigerate 30 minutes.

Roll out pastry and place into pan. Cover pastry with paper, fill with dried beans or rice. Bake in moderate hot oven 10 minutes, remove paper and beans, bake further 15 minutes, until pastry is lightly browned. Cool.

Beat cheese and sugar in small bowl with electric beater until smooth.

Beat in bananas, eggs, essence and rum.

Pour filling into pastry case, bake in moderate oven about 1½ hours or until set. Cool to room temperature.

Cover, refrigerate until cold before serving. Dust with sifted icing sugar, if desired.

NOT SUITABLE FOR FREEZING OR MICROWAVING

Ann Dark, Townsville

DATE: February 1998

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