Sunday Brunchies and Crunchies: Peanut Butter, Bacon, and Banana Pie

by Reuben Gutierrez

Originally published 6 May 2013

The return of the Board Walk Bakery brought new space for guests, but also more space for new menu items. The former bakery still boasted quite a large menu for its small size, so when the expansion came along, it was quite exciting to see that in addition to more pastries and desserts, the bakery now serves cafe type selections such as more soups, salads, and sandwiches. I was pleasantly surprised that the added selections were not plain and simple, but bold and daring.

New Fruit filled salad. The Pomegranate Vinaigrette sounds delicious

New Sandwiches

The most bold and daring new item combines favorite flavors of food into one singular dessert. The Peanut Butter, Banana and Candied Bacon Pie ' advertised on the Disney Parks Blog, through word of mouth and through tweet of Twitter ' was an unexpected menu choice and its combination of flavors quite the risk on the chef's behalf. Separately, each flavor is independently capable of enhancing any dessert's flavor profile. Together, they create an intriguing dessert. I love Peanut Butter. I like bananas. I love peanut butter and bananas. I like bacon, I like candy, I'd love to try candied bacon. All three together, well, it's just asking to be sampled, even if the end result will be terrible, it's too obscure and such a risk to not try.

So enough about that, let's get down to business and defeat the hunger pains. The Peanut Butter, Banana and Candied Bacon pie sounds like a recipe accidentally invented by hungry college students. With such fatty ingredients as peanut butter and bacon, the pie causes the arteries to quake in fear. To my dining companion's and my surprise, it was a delightful treat, emphasis on the light. A graham cracker crust square tart shell holds a thin layer of crisp peanut butter (much like in a Butterfingers chocolate bar), a light and fluffy peanut butter filling, and a topping of dark chocolate ganache. The ganache is then topped with a small scoop of banana puree and a sprinkling of candied bacon bits. A chocolate garnish stamped with the Disney's Board Walk logo completes the design for an elegant dessert despite its cockamamie recipe.

After reading about this crazy idea of a pastry, I ventured to the new bakery with gusto and anticipation. I quickly ordered the tricky treat, found a seat outside under the bright Florida sun, and hastily took a bite. I actually liked it'd lot. I'm a fan of the sweet and salty combination and there was a lot of salty found here from the peanut butter and bacon. Sugar in the filling helped balance the peanut butter and the sweet banana puree also assisted. The interesting thing about this pie is that it's 'fillings' are not mixed together in a homogenized blend. The different elements are separated into layers and parts. This allowed my dining companion to focus on the half of the dessert without the banana, which she detests. Overall, I found the unique blend of ingredients to be a winning combination. Though with any food, it could always use more bacon!

The chocolate garnish was melting before our eyes in the heat of the sun

I think this odd, yet familiar, dessert will bring even more guests to the bakery because of its 'I've got to try that' appeal. We've seen this recently at Epcot's 2013 Food and Wine ' I mean Flower and Garden Festival (more on that later). Their new Pineapple Promenade booth features a Pineapple Dole Whip, with spiced rum. Both separately are beloved treats, together they create that 'I've got to try that' attraction. It's too good to not pass up, even if it whomps. For the foodies, it's a food medley waiting to be absorbed. For risk takers, it's a food obscurity waiting to be tackled. For the average guest, it's so strange, by golly, it just might work! With that range of an audience, it was a food risk that was totally worth taking.