Beating high blood pressure with banana cream pie with honey-wafer crust

A cream pie on a lower-blood-pressure diet? Absolutely! This one has all of the flavour of traditional homemade custard pies, but with less fat and cholesterol. And there are plenty of luscious, healthful bananas in every bite!

Preparation time 30 minutes plus chilling

Cooking time 15 minutes

Serves 8

• 48 reduced-fat vanilla wafers, about 200 g (8 oz)
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) honey
• 125 g (1/2 c) sugar
• 75 g (1/3 c) all-purpose flour
• Salt to taste
• 750 ml (3 c) reduced-fat (2%) milk
• 125 ml (1/2 c) fat-free egg substitute
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) margarine
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) vanilla extract
• 6 large bananas
• 50 g (1/4 c) orange juice
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) apricot preserves, melted

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Lightly coat a 23-centimetre (9-inch) pie plate with nonstick cooking spray. Pulse vanilla wafers, honey and 30 millilitres (2 tablespoons) water in food processor until fine crumbs form. Press into pie plate to shape crust. Bake until set, about 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

2. Meanwhile, whisk sugar, flour and salt in medium pot until blended. Slowly whisk in milk and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Measure egg substitute in 500-millilitre (2-cup) measure and whisk in about 250 millilitres (1 cup) hot-milk mixture, then return mixture to pan (this avoids curdling). Cook, whisking, until mixture comes to a full boil and thickens. Remove from heat. Whisk in margarine and vanilla. Let cool 15 minutes.

3. Slice bananas; toss with orange juice. Line crust with one-third of bananas and top with one-half of filling. Repeat, then arrange remaining bananas on top in spiral design, with slices overlapping. Brush apricot preserves over bananas. Cool 30 minutes at room temperature, and then chill at least 4 hours or overnight.

• Make a chocolate crust by using reduced-fat chocolate wafers instead of the vanilla ones.
• Use strawberries and strawberry jam to top the pie instead of bananas.

Key nutrients: 380 Calories, 70 Calories from Fat, 8 g Fat, 3 g Saturated Fat, 1 g Trans Fat, 8 g Protein, 73 g Carb, 3 g Fibre, 170 mg Sodium

Blood bressure nutrients: 10 mg Vitamin C, 36 mg Magnesium, 491 mg Potassium, 122 mg Calcium