Banoffee Pie
OK, I've had a number of Banoffee pie but the best HAS to be the one at Delicious. Seriously, it pwns everything you've ever tasted. When I had it with Lovanilla, we were thinking of what ingredients were in it. Basing on that, here's a rough recipe.
Makes about 6 ramekins of banoffee pie.
Crust1 1/2 cups of digestives biscuits or graham crackers
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
Mix all ingredients until well blended. Press mixture firmly against bottom of ramekins or bowls that you want to use. I would recommend using small bowls instead of a big springfoam pan. It's nicer for it to be individual servings than say... big pie-like to divide. Pop them into the refrigerator for about an hour or so. 2 hours would be great.
Banana
Cut the bananas in segments. I used 2 bananas and it should be enough-ish. If you want more banana, use more bananas! Cut them up and arrange them in a ziplock bag as pictured. You don't have to use ziplock if you don't have them. Plain freezer/greaseproof paper would be ok, just make sure they won't stick to each other when you freeze them for a bit. Just for an hour or so.
Toffee sauceThere are many ways to make toffee. There are the long winded one to the easiest of the bunch. The easiest would be just to buy caramel if they have it in stock. You can also use dulce de leche (I am pretty sure it's not sold here.. at least not at the usual stores). There are a number of ways of making dulce de leche, all using a can of condensed milk (susu cap junjung/susu pekat manis). The way to get smooth caramel is by submerging the can (labels taken off) in water and let it cook for about 4 hours. The thing is, there is a possibility of the air pressure in the can going wonky and the thing will explode. That wasn't a chance I was willing to take. Another is to ensure you have some holes on the top of the can and not fully submerge the can in water. I find that a bit mafan because water MIGHT get into the can or it won't be cooked properly. My method is the worst of the lot. I just poured the condensed milk in a pan and let it cook on a very low heat stirring occasionally. I got really bored halfway (there wasn't anything good on the telly and I was left humming to that 500 miles song!), so I quit stirring and I think that was why mine had darker chocolate spots as the sugar sort of caramelized some parts and not others. It should take about 20 minutes or so. Just see the colour changing. Make sure you do not overcook it as it will turn into hard candy when it's cooled! Just see when it's turn slightly fudge-y. Let it cool for a bit before proceeding to the next step.
As you can see, there are darker spots in my caramel. What to do. It doesn't alter the taste (at least to my tastebuds). It just doesn't look that pretty la if you're that superficial. :P
Assemble your ramekins filled with its set base. Arrange bananas in the ramekins, and pour the sauce on top of it.
It should look something like this once you've filled the sauce. Next step is the topping creamm
Whipped creamUm, I didn't really measure this.. Maybe about 2 cups of whipping cream? You can use thick cream, double cream, heavy cream. Any cream that CAN be whipped. You can even use the aerosol ones if you like because it's easier but the thing is, if you use them, you have to eat it asap. Otherwise the cream will turn watery and that spoils it. Unless you like that..?
Whip it until it's thick. You can use electric mixer or the good oldskool ways. One of the tips when using the manual whipping ways is that to combine two whipper as one. To create more... um, whipping mechanism? This ensures more air would be trapped in the cream, hence you whipping it manually half the time it would have if you use just one. Want to better it? Use three? The sky's the limits?!!
Spoon some into the ramekins, smooth it over. Add more to make some sort of a mini dome. I am copying how Delicious did it hence the dome. I lack originality. Booo.
Close up sikit.
The ratio for the three tiers is up to you really. You can have.. 1/4 crust, 1/4 banana, 1/4 toffee and 1/4 cream. Or no crust, just banana and toffee and cream. Seriously, do what you like.
Finally! To pretty it up even more. Melt some chocolates (I had some butterscotch chocolate leftover) and add a bit of cream to make it glossy and slightly runny (not too runny!!!). Decorate your pie to your liking. You can use piping or plain old ziplock bag or just a spoon (require super-steady hands!)
Et voilà!
Ignore the fly. It's not part of the ensemble. The flies in my house are super swift. They pounce like a cougar on an unsuspecting victim. I made my brother eat that one.
Have fun trying!
