Pie, Banoffee

Banoffee pie is a British dessert pie made from bananas, whipped cream, and a thick caramel sauce (made from boiled condensed milk or milk jam), combined either on a pastry case or one made from crumbled biscuits and butter. Some versions of the recipe include chocolate, coffee, or both.

The dessert’s name, sometimes spelled “banoffi”, is a portmanteau combining the words banana and toffee.

A layer of toffee bits (bagged by Heath is good) really takes this dessert up a notch. If you can’t find them though don’t worry you can leave them out.

Ingredients

• Crust (You can also use a biscoff crust - [recipe:Pie Crust, Biscoff]):
• 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) graham cracker crumbs (about 12 full sheet graham crackers)
• 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
• 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, melted

Filling

• 1 and 1/4 cups Dulce de Leche (or make your own - [recipe:Dulce De Leche])
• 2 large bananas, sliced
• Topping:

Whipped Cream

• 2 cups (480ml) cold heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar or granulated sugar*
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• optional toppings: chocolate shavings, chopped nuts, or toffee bits for garnish

Directions

Pour the sweetened condensed milk in a pie dish.

1. Place the pie dish in a large roasting pan and place the roasting pan in the oven.
2. Fill the roasting pan with enough HOT water until it reaches halfway up the pie dish. This is exactly what we do when we bake cheesecake.
3. Loosely cover the pie dish with aluminum foil.

Heat oven to 350°F (177°C).

1. Bake until sweetened condensed milk has thickened and caramelized, about 2 hours. Add more hot water after 1 hour, since some of it has evaporated.
2. All of the “work” is hands-off. After 2 hours, the sweetened condensed milk has turned into golden dulce de leche. Magic. Let the dulce de leche cool, then pour into your pre-baked graham cracker crust. You can make the dulce de leche up to 2 weeks in advance.
3. After that, we have a layer of banana slices. Make sure you use nice yellow bananas and save mushy spotty bananas for recipes like banana bread and banana muffins.

Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).

1. Make the crust: If you’re starting out with full graham crackers, use a food processor or blender to grind them into fine crumbs. Stir the graham cracker crumbs and granulated sugar together in a medium bowl, and then stir in the melted butter. The mixture will be thick, coarse, and sandy. Try to smash/break up any large chunks. Pour the mixture into an ungreased 9-inch pie dish. With medium pressure using your hand, pat the crumbs down into the bottom and up the sides to make a compact crust. Do not pack down with heavy force because that makes the crust too hard. Simply pat down until the mixture is no longer crumby/crumbly. Tips: You can use a small flat-bottomed measuring cup to help press down the bottom crust and smooth out the surface, but do not pack down too hard. And run a spoon around the bottom “corner” where the edge and bottom meet to help make a rounded crust⁠—this helps prevent the crust from falling apart. For more shaping technique tips, see the graham cracker crust recipe page.
2. Bake the crust for 15 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes.
3. For the whipped cream: Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla extract on medium-high speed until medium peaks form, about 3-4 minutes. Medium peaks are between soft/loose peaks and stiff peaks and are the perfect consistency for topping and piping on desserts.
4. Spread dulce de leche on top of the crust. Arrange banana slices in 1–2 layers on top of the dulce de leche, then spread whipped cream on top.
5. Refrigerate pie uncovered for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day. Garnish with toppings before serving, if desired.
6. Cover and store leftover pie in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Notes

What Is Dulce de Leche?

Dulce de leche is similar to caramel, but a little sweeter and creamier. It’s prepared by slowly heating sugar and milk until everything caramelizes. If we’re getting all scientific, a lot of the flavor comes from the Maillard reaction. Dulce de leche is Spanish for candy made/of milk. There are a few ways to prepare dulce de leche [recipe:Dulce De Leche]