Best Banoffee Pie

                                                                                 

                                                                                    

This delightful dessert should be tried long before your 6th decade. Who knew toffee paired with banana could be ultra delightful? Apparently many.

The original was created in England by Ian Dowding and included a coffee flavor.

For this banoffee pie version I used a graham cracker crumb crust (shortbread crust is also very good), condensed milk toffee, bananas of course and whipped cream for the topping which we will call Chantilly cream. After the cream some shaved chocolate is sprinkled on top for a decorative look.

The toffee filling is a version of two different recipes with similar caramel ingredients. Basically modified from two formulas found in the Complete Book of Desserts by Martha Day and the Illustrated Step by Step Baking  by Caroline Bretherton. One recipe calls for sweetened condensed milk and the other called for a can of condensed milk. Because I had a can of both I used the full can of sweetened condensed which wasn't enough at about 300 gm and then used some condensed milk 100 gm  to have a full 400 gm. Both called for butter,  one for a cup and the other only 4 tablespoons. I went for 1/2 cup. one called for 2/3 cup of brown sugar and the other was only1/3. I went for about 1/3 and added some corn syrup.

Crust:

1. 1cup/ 150 gm cup all purpose flour
2. 1 cup/ 125 gm graham cracker crumbs
3. 4 tsp/16 gm sugar
4. 1/4 tsp/ 1gm salt
5. 1/2 cup/ 113 gm unsalted butter melted.

Method

For the crust combine flour, graham crumbs, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add melted butter and press into a pie plate or nine inch spring form pan. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 F. Cool to room temp.

Toffee Layer:

1. 14 oz /400 gm of condensed milk ( combo of sweetened condensed milk and condensed milk if needed)
2. 1/2 cup/115gm butter    
3. 1/3 cup/ 115 gm light brown sugar   
4. 1-2 tbsp corn syrup

Method

Place ingredients in a saucepan and melt all together then bring to gentle boil for 3-7 mins until sauce thickens. Use a whisk to stir and help prevent burning. Pour over cooled crust and leave until completely cooled.

Chantilly Cream Topping:

1. 300 ml Whipping Cream
2. 2-3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
3. 1 Tablespoon Powdered Milk (helps stabilize the cream)
4. 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

Shaved chocolate for final topping

Method

Beat the 300 ml of whipping cream to a soft peak then add sugar, powdered milk and vanilla and continue to beat until you have a stiff peak. Leave the Chantilly cream in the fridge until you are ready to use.

3 Bananas and Freshly squeezed lemon juice

Next you will need about 3 bananas to cut into about 1/4 inch slices. Put a little lemon juice in the bowl of  banana slices to keep them from turning brown. It really does help as the next day in the fridge the bananas on the pie will remain a fresh banana color.

Place the banana slices all around the caramel in a circular neat fashion covering the entire toffee layer.

You can spoon the Chantilly cream onto the bananas or place the cream into a piping bag and pipe it onto the bananas. Lastly top with shaved chocolate and enjoy.