Banoffee pie is a great dish for using up a couple of over ripe bananas, you know the ones where the skin is starting to get brown dots and they smell very banana'y. We love the combination of bananas and toffee and it is well worth the effort it takes to make, you get the flavour combination of biscuits, banas toffee and cream all in one mouthful, delicious. You need to use bananas that are fully ripe so that you get the full banana flavour, any that are still firm to the touch rather than slightly soft leave them another day or so, and if they have gone over the edge, to over ripe, make them into a smoothie instead. The caramel sauce is easy to make but you need to watch it like a hawk. I have gone back to it as having tried loads of other toffee sauces this one works the best. We also prefer a biscuit base to pastry, but either works well. So if you find yourself with a few bananas that are heading for the ripe side treat yourself.
Serves 6 - 8
Link to measurement conversion chart
Ingredients
For the base:
- 100g butter
- 225g digestive biscuits crushed
For the caramel:
- 100g butter
- 100g dark brown soft sugar
- 397g can Carnation Condensed Milk
For the filling and top:
- 3 medium ripe bananas cut into 5mm thick rings
- 300ml carton whipping cream, lightly whipped
- grated chocolate
- juice of 1 lemon
You will also need...
- 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin, greased
- A small saucepan
- A mixing bowl
- an electric whisk
Method
- Make the base
- Melt the butter in a saucepan then remove from the heat
- Add the crushed biscuits to the buter and stir until evenly coated with butter
- Pour the biscuits into the loose bottomed cake tin and spread evenly across the bottom and sides, pressing firmly.
- Refridgerate for 30 mins.
- Make the caramel sauce
- Melt the butter and sugar into a non-stick saucepan over a low heat, stirring all the time until the sugar has dissolved.
- Add the condensed milk and bring to a rapid boil for about a minute, stirring all the time for a thick golden caramel.
- Allow to cool slightly
- Assemble the pie
- Put the remaining banana rings in a bowl and sprinkle with a little lemon juice to stop them going brown
- Spread an even layer of banana rings on the base of the pastry case, holding some back for decoration if you want to.
- Pour the toffee sauce over the bananas then chill in the refrigerator for 30 mins or until the sauce has stiffened
- Spread the whipped cream over the toffee and decorate with banana slices and grated chocolate
Serving suggestions and variations
- Try using chocolate digestives instead of plain ones for a biscuit base.
- For a pastry base use 1 batch of extra rich short crust pastry or 1 pack of ready made dessert pastry or 1 batch of Gluten free pastry, blind baked before assembly
- Substitute the bananas for tinned peaches or cooked apple slices
- Instead of layering the bananas at the bottom the original recipe combined half with the whipped cream and piled it all on top of the toffee sauce
- Make it exotic by adding 50g or desiccated coconut to the cream and decorating with pineapple segments
- If you have any pastry left over cook up a batch of mini tart cases, remove them from the oven and pop a banana slice in the bottom, top with half a toffee and bake for a further 5 mins to the toffee melts then spoon over a little whipped cream. Bite sized banoffee pies make a great pass around pudding at a cocktail party or buffet.
Acknowledgements
The original recipe is one I found on a Carnation condensed milk can. However I didn’t like the bananas stirred into the cream so layered them at the bottom of the pie instead.
Fancy something else from our collection then why not try one of the following;
- A Salad Nicoise makes a great light lunch if you have a banoffee pie for pud!
- Want something a little more substantial then try our Corned Beef Lasagne
- Our red cabbage coleslaw makes a great addition to either of these main meals and adds a little colour to the plate as well
We hope you have enjoyed these recipes
Happy eating!