ByarmelleFOOD & DRINKS, RecipesJune, 2014

LOVE DESSERT? TRY THIS SECRET BANOFFEE PIE RECIPE

The secret Banoffee Pie recipe from CoffeeCakes&Running

Lucky us! CoffeeCakes&Running, a popular Dubai-based blogger, has kindly agreed to share with us with her absolutely mouth-watering secret Banoffee Pie recipe .

Serves 8

Ingredients you will need:

1 Can (397g) Sweetened Condensed Milk

250 digestive Biscuits

100 g Butter (I use salted, but you are supposed to use unsalted)

4 Ripe Bananas (but not too ripe)

300 ml Whipping Cream (also called Heavy Cream)

2 Cadbury Flake bars (or a finely grated chocolate bar)

Step by Step:

To make the caramel/soft toffee. Place the unopened can of condensed milk in a saucepan of hot water, making sure it is totally covered in water. Bring the water to the boil. Reduce the heat so the water is simmering (small bubbles in the water). Simmer the can of condensed milk for 3 hours. You will need to top the saucepan up with more hot water from time to time.

TIP: if you have a slow cooker you can do this in the slow cooker – cover the can with hot water from the kettle, and leave in the slow cooker turned to high for 3 hours)

After 3 hours, remove the can (go careful it will be extremely hot) and leave the can of soft toffee/caramel to cool in the can for an hour or so or even until it is warm. You can leave overnight if you wish to do so, it will just be a bit harder to spread.

CHEATS TIP if you are really short of time, you can buy a can of dulche de leche from your supermarket and use this instead.

Meanwhile Crush the biscuits into fine crumbs either by place the biscuits and bashing with a rolling-pin (great for stress relieving) or by blitzing in a food processor.

Tip: If you want to avoid having a few odd larger pieces of biscuits in the base, keep on bashing until they are all crushed.

Melt the butter either in the microwave (do it in 15 second intervals so it doesn’t burn) or slowly in a saucepan on the hob and add to the biscuit crumbs, stirring the butter through so that it covers all the biscuit crumbs

Line the base of a 20cm spring-form cake tin with the biscuit crumbs and butter mixture, pat down so they are firm and place in the fridge to cool for an hour or so.

Spoon the caramel from the can over the biscuit crumbs, use a palate knife or back of a spoon to spread evenly over the biscuit base and put back into the fridge

Before serving, slice the bananas and place them over the caramel – 2-3 deep is ideal.

Using a hand mixer or your food processor, whip the cream until it forms very stiff peaks

Spoon the cream over the bananas or put into a piping bag and pipe over the bananas if you preferred a more polished finish

Top with crumbled Flake bars or grated chocolate of your choice

Put back into the fridge to set for an hour or so, or even overnight if you want.

Serving :

Remove carefully from the cake tin and serve sliced

TIPS : This makes 1 x 20 cm Banoffee Pie which is perfect for slicing and sharing, you can also divide the mixture and make individual Banoffee Pies if you prefer.

Serve in glasses for a dinner parties or even plastic cups for picnics etc depending on how you want to serve.

Just remember as the recipe has fresh cream it needs to be chilled until served.

This will keep in the fridge for approximately 2 days after making.

Variations:

Once you’ve made Banoffee once using the above recipe, feel free to Freestyle how you wish – for instance you could use different biscuits, or even a pastry base.

You may also caramelize the bananas lightly in sugar before adding, or add flavoring to the cream, fresh vanilla for instance.

Toppings can range from grated chocolate, your favorite mini chocolate bar, smashed maltesers etc – make it your own and enjoy.

BONUS – HISTORY OF THE BANOFFEE PIE

The first Banoffee Pie was made in 1972 at The Hungry Monk restaurant in East Sussex (UK). Originally spelt Banoffi, but now spelled as Banoffee – apparently when first made the restaurant says the dish was so popular that they “couldn’t take it off the menu” – I have to agree, this is something I will never stop making as it’s a dessert that makes me happy.