I read your post, got up from my computer, went to the kitchen and created a dessert I've never made before. Inspired by the cream cheese powdered sugar mixture and a few misc dessert cookbooks here is what I ended up with. 1 brick of softened cream cheese (had it out to make some banana bread but ran out of time to do what I planned with it). "some" 3/4 cup? maybe 1/2 cup? powder sugar made 1/2 recipe for banana cream pie filling. which was flour, sugar, milk, (which made the pudding) then added egg yolks, then some butter and vanilla cooled that, then added 3 sliced bananas. whipped up some whip cream (heavy whipping cream, with a tad bit of powder sugar mixed in. Then graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and brown sugar, mixed up. spread about 3/4 of that out on the bottom of a square baking pan, pressed down firm. Then spooned on a layer of the cream cheese, then the banana pudding mixture, then more crumbs, then more cream cheese mixture, toppped off with fresh whipped cream. Should turn out to be like a banana cheesecake :) I'll let you know in the morning how yummy it is.

My hunch, if it was central VA and a BBQ place, was that it wasn't a pate sucree or something similar. It was probably an "American" pie crust. You can make a great flaky crust in about four minutes with butter, flour, and a little ice cold water. Can add a pinch of salt if you want. Leave some pretty large chunks of butter and make sure you do the fraisage. Like always, let it sit for an hour or so or even a day before rolling it out. Most likely based on cost and region, they probably used shortening, but don't. It tastes bad and makes your crust have a bad mouthfeel. Just use butter. Bake it well, maybe weighing it down, and make sure you bake it very close to the time you are going to use it. In other words, don't bake it today for use tomorrow or the next day. It's never as crisp as it is the first day. Let it cool, fill and serve immediately. The water from the filling will start to soften it right away, so you don't want to let that sit if you want to maintain the crispiness. This post was edited by rosesinny on Mon, Feb 18, 13 at 17:57

I'm late to the party again but have to say that I think it's great that he his still surprising you after 25 years. Nothing wrong with that IMHO. Lars, I think they still make those Nilla Waffers. I've seen that dessert combo at more than one gathering over the years. They were a favorite first food for toddlers back in the day too. Not the best thing for sure but they worked back in the day. I'm a big fan of Nick Malgieri. His Heart of Dixie Pecan Pie is my favorite. I'll share his recipe in case you and himself decide to try a few more variations in the future. Title: Banana Cream Pie - Bakers' Dozen Categories: Pies, Bakery Yield: 1 servings Flaky pie dough for a -1crust pie ; bove Filling: 2 1/2 c Milk 2/3 c Sugar 1 pn Salt 1/3 c Cornstarch 3 lg Eggs 4 tb Unsalted butter; softened 2 ts Vanilla extract 2 lg Bananas; sliced Topping: 1 c Heavy cream 2 tb Sugar 1 ts Vanilla extract Prepare and bake the crust. Recipe by: BAKERS' DOZEN (NICK MALGIERI) SHOW #1A16 To make the filling, combine 2 cups milk, sugar and salt in a nonreactive saucepan; whisk once to mix and bring to a boil over low heat. Place remaining 1/2 cup milk in a mixing bowl and whisk in cornstarch, then eggs. Return milk and sugar mixture to a boil over low heat then whisk about a third of it into the egg mixture. Return milk and sugar mixture to a boil once more and whisk in the egg mixture, whisking constantly until the filling thickens and comes to a boil. Allow to boil, whisking constantly, for about 30 seconds. Remove from heat, whisk in butter and vanilla; pour into a nonreactive bowl. Press plastic wrap against the surface of the filling and chill until it is approximately 75 degrees. Fold the bananas into the cooled filling and spread it evenly in the cooled crust. To finish the pie, whip the cream with the sugar and vanilla until it holds a firm peak. Use a hand mixer on medium speed or a heavyduty mixer fitted with the whisk. Spread the cream over the filling, making sure it touches the edges of the crust all around. C&P from a google search....it would have taken me way too much time to type it in from his cookbook that Mique sent me years ago is a swap. : ) David

One other possible explanation is that maple syrups vary in their thickeness/water content. Maybe that's why the reipe states "grade B" syrup, which is slightly thicker than Grade A. This is very slight, but some syrups are indeed thicker. Or if you used some other type of syrup that wasn't maple syrup, then maybe it didn't thicken up. I mean if you just take plain old maple syrup and cook and whip it up enough you will get maple cream even without added ingredients (Or you will get black taffy or set the house on fire, one of the three!)