Banoffee Pie

The other day I was watching “The Mind of a Chef” on Netflix, Season 2 featuring British chef April Bloomfield. That was when I saw her make this beautiful dessert – Bannoffee Pie.  

I fell in love with it immediately and knew I had to learn how to make it! She’s already teaching us how on the show and it actually looked pretty simple to make. I’ve always known Bannoffee Pie as a classic English dessert and unfortunately never got a chance to try it when I was in London, England last year. But who am I kidding, I didn’t know about its existence at that time anyways.

The ingredients were pretty simple as I had most of the items lying around the house anyways. I actually prepared most of the dessert a day in advance so that on the day of assembly, everything can be put together rather quickly.

One of the things I made in advance was the Dulce de Leche – the filling of the pie. I was the most excited to make this as I’ve never made it before and the idea that I can transform a can of condensed milk into something totally different within the span of a few hours amazed me.

After making it, I realized 2 cans was more than enough filling for my 9.5 inch fluted tart pan so the next time I make it, i’ll only use 1 can. Once my dulce de leche is ready, I placed it in the fridge (after it has cooled!) to store until ready to use.

The other thing I made in advance was the crust. Although the April Bloomfield recipe called for a more traditional pie crust, I decided to opt for the graham crust for added texture. The recipe called for 1.5 cups of grounded graham crackers but that barely fit my tart pan. For a pan my size, I probably needed 2.5 cups of ground graham crackers so I can get all the edges of the pan covered. I baked the crust for 5 minutes to set it and once it has cooled, I put it away in the fridge until ready to assemble.

Alright on to assembly day! The process was rather quick. I took my graham crust out of the fridge and thinly sliced up 3 bananas. I then proceeded to arranged them in concentric circles within the tart pan until it was completely covered.

Once completely covered, I proceeded to spread the Dulce de Leche all over the bananas. I took the Dulce de Leche out from the fridge and had it sit at room temperature for about an hour before actually using it so that it would spread more easily.  When that was done, I put it in the fridge to set for about a few hours. When I was ready to plate it and present, I topped the rest of the bannoffee pie with whipped cream and grated some dark chocolate on top for garnish.

Be careful with the whipped cream though! I would recommend whipping it until stiff peaks instead of soft because it can get rather runny and it’ll just be one big mess to handle. Have a large glass of water ready because you’re going to need to wash down all that sugar 😉

Ingredients

Yield: 8 servings
Prep time: 4 hours and 10 mins
Assembly time: 10 minutes

• 1 can of condensed milk
• 3 large bananas
• 1.5 cups whipping cream
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2.5 cups of ground graham crackers
• 2/3 cup melted butter

1. Take off the label on the condensed milk and place it in a deep pot. Fill the pot with water until the can is completely covered. Bring the water up to a boil. Once it has reached boiling point, bring it down to a simmer and simmer for 4 hours. Keep the lid slightly off and monitor the water level to ensure it the cans remain covered with water the whole time. If the cans are even slightly exposed, you’re going to risk the can exploding on you!
2. Once the dulce de leche is ready, set aside and cool. Be careful, it’s going to be super hot! Once it’s cooled, place it in the fridge until ready to use.
3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven for 350F. For the graham crust, place the graham crackers (about 1 1/2 pack) into a food processor to break it up. Once all the graham cracker are grounded, slowly add the melted butter until everything mixes well together. Fill the fluted tart pan with the graham cracker crust ensuring everything is tightly packed. Then, place it in the oven and bake for 5-10 minutes until the crust is set.
4. Once the crust is set, set aside to cool. Place it in the fridge if you’re not assembling right away.
5. To prepare the whipped cream, add the vanilla extract and sugar to the whipping cream and whisk until stiff peaks. I placed my whipped cream in a piping bag with a large star tip to decorate the pie later.
6. When you’re ready to assemble, layer the pan with sliced bananas in concentric circles, starting from the outside working your way in.
7. Spread a layer of dulce de leche over the bananas until evenly covered.
8. You have the option to add another layer of bananas on top but I left mine as is. I piped the whipped cream on top of the bannoffee pie and grated some dark chocolate on top to garnish.