Banoffee
I recently mentioned beef as one of the go-to pregnancy ingredients lately. Another one: bananas. Of course, this was during the winter when not much other fruit was in season, and I really overdid the oranges to the point where my wife didn’t want to see another orange, so maybe I’m to blame for that one. I could have worse habits! 
Anyways, in honor of this, I decided to focus today’s dessert on bananas. It also seemed strange that in all the desserts I’ve posted up until now, there’s not a single banana dessert. I know, blasphemy! So to fix this at once, I decided to make a classic British dessert: Banoffee (also spelled Banoffi or Banoffy).
If you’ve never had this before, you’re probably wondering what’s up with the name? Its simple really: bananas + toffee = banoffee. Knowing that, you should be drooling now. I was when I first saw it and knew I had to try it. Its really quite simple: pie crust, bananas, freshly made toffee (a.k.a. dulce de leche, which is basically boiled condensed milk), and whipped cream. Don’t let the simplicity of the ingredients fool you though–all combined, this is an indulgent, rich treat that will have you and your guests licking their plates clean. Its just one of those flavor combinations that works perfectly.
- Graham cracker pie crust
- Dulce de Leche
- 2 14 oz cans of condensed milk
- dash salt
- 3-5 ripe bananas
- Whipped Cream
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
First, prepare your graham cracker pie crust and bake it blind at 325°F for 18 minutes.
Then, make the dulce de leche. In a nonreactive pan (e.g. enamel, glass, etc), pour in the condensed milk as well as a dash of salt. Cover with tin foil and put this in a warm water bath so that the water goes roughly halfway up the height of the pan.
Put this in a 425°F oven for at least an hour (it took me somewhere over an hour and a half–I lost track), stirring periodically (and replenishing the water bath if needed).
It is done cooking when the mixture takes on the color of dark butterscotch. Remove from the oven, remove the foil, and let it cool to room temperature, whisking well once it does. It’ll look kind of funky at first, but keep whisking–it will look thick, velvetty, and oh-so tempting (taste some now while nobody is looking). You can make extra and store it in the fridge for other uses. Just be careful…this stuff is addictive.
Slice the bananas into coins and put down a single layer of them in the crust. Pour on just enough dulce de leche to fill the gaps, but not to have the bananas swimming.
Repeat this process until you’ve used up all of the banana and dulce de leche, coming close to filling up the pie crust. This is a messy, sticky process, but you’ll enjoy every moment of it if you’re the type who tastes as you cook (for quality control, of course). Put this in the fridge to firm up a bit.
Prepare the whipped cream. Simply pour everything in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until stiff. Set this aside in the fridge.
Now, with everything ready to go, simply decorate the pie with your whipped cream however suits your fancy. I filled my pastry bag up with a rose tip and made little dabs all over the pie. This is not my strong suit, so I was more than happy with the results, lol! I shaved some chocolate on top just to keep things looking interesting (and I didn’t care enough by now to bother making chocolate syrup to drizzle on).
So with the pie assembled, cut yourself a slice (it won’t be clean) and devour it…before someone else does. Enjoy!
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