Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Pulse the graham crackers and vanilla wafers in a food processor until they are nothing but fine crumbs.

Add the salt and butter and pulse a few more times to combine.

Press the crumb mixture into a 9" pie plate and up the sides.

Bake for 15-17 minutes until golden and fragrant. Allow to cool.

Slice the vanilla bean in half and carefully scrape out the seeds.

In a saucepan over medium heat, stir the sugar, heavy cream, milk, vanilla bean and seeds.

Heat until bubbles around the edges appear and just start to pop, stirring often.

Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and cornstarch together in a large bowl until smooth and pale yellow.

When the milk is steaming, carefully remove the vanilla bean and whisk, a little at a time, into the egg mixture.

Whisking the whole time, pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and return to medium-heat until thickened, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir to make sure everything is smooth.

Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard.

Allow to cool in the fridge for 4 hours.

When ready to assemble, slice the bananas.

Spread a bit of custard over the bottom of the graham cracker crust.

Arrange a layer of bananas over the first thin layer.

Top with 1/3 cup of custard and top with another layer of bananas.

Repeat 2 (or more) times, pressing and covering with custard each time.

Top the final layer with a thick layer of custard.

Wrap with plastic wrap and place in the fridge 4 hours.

When ready to serve, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks.

Stir in the vanilla and sugar and whip a moment longer (soft moist peaks, not dry stiff peaks).

Spread a heaping layer over the top of the pie and top with some crushed pretzels if desired.

Slice and serve with a smile.