Pour sugar into a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk, and keep whisking, as sugar melts. It will clump and you'll think you're doing it all wrong. You're not. :)
Once sugar is melted, stop whisking and let sugar cook until it is deep amber in color. *Carefully* add butter (mixture will bubble!) and whisk to incorporate.
Remove mixture from the heat. Add cream (carefully!) and whisk until smooth. Add salt and stir to incorporate.
For Pastry Cream:
In a medium heatproof bowl, combine cornstarch, sugar, and egg yolks. Whisk to combine (mixture will the thick).
In a medium saucepan, heat milk and salted caramel sauce over medium heat until caramel melts and milk begins to boil.
Slowly pour about one cup of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. This will temper the eggs.
Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and, stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until thickened.
Once the mixture is thick, add the vanilla bean paste (see note) and butter and stir to incorporate.
Scrape pastry cream into a bowl and cover with plastic, pressing the plastic to the surface of the cream so it doesn't form a skin. Chill completely before using.
For Crust:
Preheat oven to 375F. In a medium bowl, combine the flour and vegetable shortening. Using a pastry blender (see note) or fork, cut shortening in until no large pieces remain.
In a small bowl, combine egg, vinegar, and cold water. Whisk to combine.
Make wells in the flour mixture, and pour the egg mixture into the wells. Stir until a soft dough is formed. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly into a ball.
Roll dough to fit your pie plate, ensuring that you don't stretch the dough (as this may cause it to shrink when baked).
Line the pie crust will foil and fill with pie weights (see note). Bake 20 minutes. Remove the foil and pie weights and bake an additional 5-8 minutes, or until the crust looks dry and is barely golden. Allow crust to cool completely on a wire rack.
For Whipped Cream:
Place cold heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla bean paste (see note) in the bowl of a stand mixer. Start the mixer on low speed, and gradually increase the speed to high. Whip until the cream thickens and forms peaks.
For Assembly:
Spread ½ cup salted caramel sauce in the bottom of the baked pie crust. Top with sliced bananas, then the pastry cream. Top the pastry cream with another layer of sliced bananas.
Spread or pipe whipped cream on top, then drizzle with additional salted caramel sauce, if desired.Enjoy!
Notes
Note on salted caramel sauce: You can always use store-bought salted caramel sauce, but I like this recipe. :)Note on pastry cream: While the pastry cream uses salted caramel sauce in the recipe, the end result isn't at all salty, since I omit any additional salt in the recipe. Add salt if you want another salty component in the pie, but I was satisfied with the salted caramel beneath the pastry cream. :)Note on vanilla bean paste: You can substitute with one vanilla bean or with vanilla extract if you like. If you're looking to purchase vanilla bean paste and can't find it in your local grocery store (I never can), you can find it online [here].Note on pastry blender: While a pastry blender isn't necessary to cut in the shortening, it does make the job a lot faster and easier. If you're looking to buy one for yourself, you can find one [here].Note on pie weights: Pie weights really do help when blind-baking a crust, helping to keep the dough from rising/getting bubbles as it bakes. This makes sure that you have the room that you need for filling. You can buy actual pie weights if you'd like (like these [here]), but I just use black beans. They're cheap and you can use them over and over again.