English Banoffee Pie
As part of a New Year’s resolution, I’m cooking a dish from each country around the world. Check out my progress here!
While I enjoyed delicious fish and chips the other night, I still wanted to cook something British – at home, from scratch. I would have felt like I was cheating only having eaten my “English” dish and not cooking it.
As I discussed briefly, there are a lot of English dishes I could make at home (and would like to make one day) – beef wellington, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, toad in the hole and then sweets, spotted dick, treacle tart among others.
I decided to make banoffee pie — which always reminds me of Love Actually.
When Keira Knightley’s character goes to her husband’s best friend’s house and precedes to find out about his crush on her, she offers him a piece of her banoffee pie… it’s a throwaway line but it’s stayed with me ever since!
Juliet: Banoffee pie?
Mark: No, thanks.
Juliet: Thank God. You would’ve broken my heart if you’d said yes.
Mark: Oh, right. Well, lucky you.
Side note – Keira Knightley and I have the same birthday!
Back to Banoffee Pie though! Mmm, banana and toffee!
Did you know? Banoffee pie was first developed in 1972 by chefs at the The Hungry Monk restaurant in East Sussex. The restaurant has since closed but the recipe has been appropriated by people in the UK and abroad (it’s very popular in India).
I used a recipe from Saveur. Two notes – some recipes call for a layer of bananas, then toffee and then the whip cream topping. This recipe had the bananas between the toffee and cream. I think either are good and authentic – it’s all your preference! Also, I couldn’t find the cookies recommended in the recipe. Saveur suggested digestive biscuits, such as McVities brand (which are apparently a thing in the UK but of course not popular here). I decided to use mashed Nilla wafers, which I used to love as a kid. They were the perfect substitute!
Banoffee Pie
For the crust:
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
Approx. ½ package of Nilla wafer cookies
Crush the cookies until you get a fine crumb texture. Transfer to a bowl and stir in melted butter. Press into pie plate (or one with removable base). Press the mixture up the sides of the tart form with the back of a spoon. Chill the crust in refrigerator for at least one hour.
1 14-oz. can Dulce de Leche*
4 bananas
1 pint heavy cream (or cool whip)
Pour the filling into the crust. Cool and chill again for at least one hour until the caramel is firm.
If you can’t find Dulce de Leche:
Melt the 1 stick of unsalted butter in a small saucepan. Stir in the brown sugar and melt over low heat. Add the condensed milk and bring the mixture to a boil for a few minutes, stirring continuously. The toffee should darken slightly.
To serve, remove the tart from the pan and carefully transfer to a serving plate. Slice the bananas and place them in a single layer on top of the caramel. Whip the cream and spoon it over the toffee and bananas, sealing the filling in.
Sprinkle the top of the pie with grated chocolate, if desired.
- 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
- Approx. ½ package of Nilla wafer cookies
- 1 14-oz. can Dulce de Leche*
- 4 bananas
- 1 pint heavy cream (or cool whip)
- Crush the cookies until you get a fine crumb texture. Transfer to a bowl and stir in melted butter. Press into pie plate (or one with removable base). Press the mixture up the sides of the tart form with the back of a spoon. Chill the crust in refrigerator for at least one hour.
- Pour the filling into the crust. Cool and chill again for at least one hour until the caramel is firm.
- To serve, remove the tart from the pan and carefully transfer to a serving plate. Slice the bananas and place them in a single layer on top of the caramel. Whip the cream and spoon it over the toffee and bananas, sealing the filling in.
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