Stephen's Famous Banoffee Pie

The first time Stephen made this, no one we knew had even heard of a banoffee pie. Stephen's family and I all crowded around in curiosity as he made a chewy caramel out of condensed milk, peeled and chopped bananas, and whipped cream, all of which he placed inside a walnut-meal pie case and drizzled with chocolate. My first bite was a revelation as fluffy whipped cream gave way to dense, chewy caramel and a crunchy, nutty base. Soon this pie was requested for many special occasions, and it even made an appearance at our engagement party.

While trying to decide what cake to make for my step-mum Elain's birthday, she let slip that banoffee pie is her FAVOURITE thing to order in a cafe; there were also bunches of bananas practically falling off the trees in the backyard. Thus we came to make this for her - Happy Birthday Elain!

Banoffee Pie

INGREDIENTS

Pastry
1 1/4 cups plain flour
2 tbsp icing sugar
85g ground walnuts
80g chilled unsalted butter
2-3 teaspoons cold water

Filling
800g condensed milk (2 cans)
60g unsalted butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
4 large bananas, sliced thinly
400 mL thickened cream, whipped
80 g dark or milk chocolate

    1. Sift the flour and the icing sugar into a large bowl, then add the ground walnuts and 80g of the butter and rub with your fingertips until the mixture resembles loose breadcrumbs.

    2. Mix in 2 tablespoons of cold water with a butter knife to form a firm dough. Gather dough together and wrap in cling wrap, then chill for 15 minutes. Roll out to a 3mm thickness, place in a pie tin and chill for 20 minutes.

    3. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line pastry with crumpled baking paper, and fill with enough rice to weigh it down. Blind bake for 15 minutes, then remove rice and paper and bake for another 10 minutes until golden. Leave to cool completely.

    4. For the filling, place the condensed milk, golden syrup and butter in a saucepan over a low heat until it boils, thickens, and turns a golden colour. Arrange sliced bananas over pastry, and cover with caramel.

    5. When caramel is set and cool to the touch, drop spoonfuls of whipped cream over the caramel and drizzle with melted chocolate. Serve!

 

Comments

[Gaby]

I've never tried a banofee pie as I have the feeling it's too sweet for my liking. The whipped cream on top makes it look extremely tempting, though.

[briarrose]

Oh my.....lovely mix of textures. I cannot resist anything that includes caramel. ;)

[Maria @ Scandifoodie]

This sounds very rich - what a great treat for special occasions!

[Chanel]

Are those bananas from your backyard? What a cool thing to have!
I've only had banoffee pie once and I loved it. Nothing is too sweet for me (but my thighs scream in protest). Stephen's looks delicious :D

[Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella]

I don't a single soul that doesn't love bannoffee pie, it's such a crowd pleaser! :)

[InTolerantChef]

What a great idea to have the walnuts in the pie base, awesome!