The Ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups vanilla wafer crumbs (put cookies in a bag and crush with a rolling pin)
- 6 tbsp. butter, melted
- 2 ripe fresh bananas, mashed
- 1 package cream cheese (8 oz.)
- 1 container ricotta cheese (15 oz.)
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ tsp. vanilla
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- ¼ cup dried banana chips
In an oiled 9" pie plate, combine cookie crumbs and butter until the mixture holds together. Press evenly into bottom and sides of pie plate to form crust. In a separate bowl, combine fresh bananas, cream cheese, ricotta cheese, sugar and vanilla and stir well. Add half the cocoa powder, stir thoroughly, then add the remaining cocoa powder and mix together (a few streaks of cream cheese is fine). Spoon mixture into piecrust, spread evenly and refrigerate uncovered for 2 hours. Sprinkle banana chips on top and serve.
Dress it up with: Il Laboratorio del Gelato peanut butter gelato and a broken Reese's peanut butter cup. $7.25 per pint at laboratoriodelgelato.com
Make it gourmet: Mix in one of the best cocoa powders on earth, Valrhona Cacao Gastronomie. $14.29 for 8.82 oz. erikasonlinestore.com.
