Banoffee Pie (easy recipe)
A cookie crust, gooey dulce de leche (it's heavenly paired with bananas), a mound of whipped cream and chocolate shavings. So it's easy to put together and the combination of flavors is simple perfection.
Servings 8 servings
Ingredients
For the cookie crust:
- 2 cups plain cookie crumbs digestive biscuits, plain vanilla wafers or graham crackers
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
For the whipped cream:
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream cold
- 2 tablespoons cream cheese at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
For the filling:
- 2 ½ cups dulce de leche repostero softened. I use dulce de leche repostero Vacalin.
- 2 to 3 bananas ready to eat but not brown
- ¼ cup chocolate in shavings or curls
Instructions
For the cookie crust:
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Have ready a 9-inch pie pan with removable bottom. An 8-inch also works but the crust will be thicker.
- Mix 2 cups plain cookie crumbs with ½ cup unsalted butter in a medium bowl until it resembles wet sand.
- Pat onto a removable 24cm pan and press well, starting at the edges and the angles where it joins the bottom part. Make sure it's pressed and compact but don't overdo it. This will help when removing the pie from the pan.
- Bake for 10 minutes, until lightly golden and dry. Let cool completely on metal rack before filling.
- For a no-bake dessert, simply put the crust in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to allow the butter to firm up. This will make it less sturdier and might crumble here and there when you cut it.
For the whipped cream:
- Beat 1 ½ cups heavy cream, cold with 2 tablespoons cream cheese and 3 tablespoons powdered sugar in a large bowl until thick and medium peaks form. Be careful at the end so that you don't overbeat it, as that might make the cream curdle. If in doubt, you can beat the first part with an electric mixer until medium thick, and then change to a hand whisk and beat until it's the desired consistency. It's harder to overbeat by hand.
- Keep it refrigerated, covered, if not using immediately.
For the filling:
- Soften 2 ½ cups dulce de leche repostero by placing it in a bowl and microwaving in 10 or 15-second spurts. Mix and see if it's of a nice spreadable consistency but not too runny. Repeat if necessary.
- Peel 2 to 3 bananas and cut about ¼ inch thick slices. Do this at the last moment, right before assembling the pie so that they don't turn brown.
- Chop ¼ cup chocolate finely with a kitchen knife or make curls with a peeler. You will have larger and smaller shavings, and some dust.
To assemble:
- Spread dulce de leche on the bottom of the prepared crust and smooth top.
- Top with sliced bananas. Arrange them however you want.
- Spread the whipped cream on top of the bananas.
- Sprinkle the chocolate shavings over the cream.
- Refrigerate for an hour before serving and up to a day. Keep leftovers refrigerated, covered in plastic wrap or an airtight container.
Notes
Make ahead: you can make the cookie crust several days before and keep it at room temperature. The whipped cream can be made up to 2 days before and kept in the refrigerator, well covered. The dulce de leche is a pantry staple as is the chocolate needed for the shavings and both have a long shelf life.
Serving it: chill the assembled pie (without the chocolate shavings is better) for a few hours before serving it. It allows the layers to settle and the cream to firm up. There's not much to accompany it, as it's a pie that already has everything. After more than a few hours in the fridge, the bananas will start to darken. But the flavor will still be amazing! If you plan to add fresh bananas on top as decoration, make sure you do so at the last moment so the color is vibrant.
