Banoffee Pie

Banoffee pie is great really. If you enjoy baking then you will appreciate how easy but satisfying it is to make. If you’re not much of a baker but you’d like to give it a go, then banoffee pie is probably the best dessert to know how to make. There’s no actual baking involved, so you get to avoid all the confusion of kneeding, crumbing, folding etc., it’s not at all complicated to make and it looks quite fancy. It’s also a good dessert to know if you ever have to go to a dinner or birthday party and think you should bring something. It’s the kind of thing you could make with your kids without them burning themselves or you wanting to throttle them for doing it wrong. It’s also, as I discovered today, a great dessert to make for your cake loving housemate on his birthday when you don’t have a clue what he would like or any money to buy him a present.

Here’s how I make banoffee pie:

Ingredients:

For the biscuit base:

1 packet of Hob Nobs (i use plain, but if you like, go for chocolate.)

150g butter

For the toffee filling:

1 can of condensed milk

80g dark brown sugar

80g normal/caster sugar

170g butter

For the top:

4 large bananas

300ml double cream

1 cadbury’s flake

Method:

1. Put the hob nobs in a plastic sandwich bag and crush them into crumbs using a rolling pin. (or if you don’t have one, like me, whatever round blunt implement you can find. I use a teabag caddie.)

2. melt the butter in a pan and stir in the biscuit crumbs. Once it’s mixed, spoon the mixture into a loose-bottom cake tin. (9inch) If you don’t have one of these either ask your neighbour, like I do, or use a deep pyrex dish or cake tin. smooth the biscuit mixture across the tin and slightly up the edges. Pop in the fridge for 1/2 an hour.

3. While the base is in the fridge, make the toffee. Heat the butter and sugar in a pan and stir until all melted into syrup. Pour the can of condensed milk into the ban. Bring this mixture to the boil, stirring all the time. It’s turn into a light brown, thick caramel. Be really careful bringing to the boil as being spattered by boiling toffee is not fun. so keep the heat low enough.

4. Once the toffee is ready, pour it over the biscuit base. smooth it so that it covers the whole base evenly and then return to the fridge for an hour and a half.

5. Fast forward an hour or so – peel and chop up the 4 bananas and whip the cream. Once the toffee has set, remove the tin from the fridge and cover the toffee with the sliced banana. Keep some banana for decoration.

6. Spoon the whipped cream over the banana until the pie is completely covered. use the remaining banana to decorate the pie. Then crumble the Flake all over the top to add the finishing touch.

Put the pie back into the fridge to eat whenever you feel like it.

And there you have it! Interestingly, this recipe for the toffee is how I decided to make it, but if you actually boil the can of condensed milk unopened for 2 hours, keeping the water topped up the whole time and the pot covered so the water doesn’t evaporate, the condensed milk actually turns into caramel. Once made, this toffee can actually be stored in the cupboard until you need it. Which it pretty cool.

Happy pie-making!