Banoffee Pie?

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.
 

This was the scene in the movie "Love Actually" that introduced me to Banoffee Pie.  What is Banoffee Pie?  Simply, it's a graham cracker crust (which the English lovingly refer to as digestive biscuits) filled with dulce de leche (toffee) topped with bananas and covered in whipped cream.  It sounds good because it is!  I made a few substitutions:  Nilla Wafer crust in place of grahams, and Cool Whip instead of real whipped cream.  It was Christmas morning when I made this and I was running out of time.  Let's get to it.

This is the main ingredient.  Sweetened Condensed Milk.  That is all there is to the toffee.  Really.  This is going to be so easy you'll slap yourself.

Take the labels off and wash the cans really well.  Then use a sharp knife and pop a small hole in the top.  (This is to avoid can explosion.)

Now place the cans in a slow cooker and fill it with water about 1/4" from the top of the cans.  (If you don't have a slow cooker, you can boil the unpierced cans on the stove 4 hours [I can't recommend this because they have a chance of exploding if the water level drops], or simmer the actual milk for 1 1/2 hours stirring constantly [I can't recommend this because it is too time consuming], or I even saw a microwaveable recipe [When I tried this it made an overflowing mess!]  Slow cooking is the way to go.

I cover the cans with small squares of parchment paper to avoid water dripping into the can.

Set the cooker on low and wait 8 hours.  Don't worry if it starts top ooze out the top.  You can scrape this off and eat it later.  That's why you washed your can, right?

8 hours later...

...sweet delicious toffee!  Now scrape off the tops and eat them before you open the cans.

It's perfect.  Now for the crust.

Nilla Wafers in a food processor, ready to be crushed into pie!   Pulse it to a sandy texture.

Then add some sugar and melted butter and mix well.  Dump it into a pie pan and push it down and around the sides.

A measuring scoop is really the best tool for this.  See how nicely it packs the crumbs into the side of the pan?

 Bake it at 350 degrees for about 7-9 minutes.  It should look dry when you take it out and the color should be a bit darker.

Now dump in the toffee.  Use an offset spatula to get it to the edges.

Don't worry if you get some crumbs on top...it's going to be covered up soon.

Slice a banana or two and cover the top. 

Some Cool Whip in a pastry bag gives it a nice finishing touch, but feel free to just spoon it on.

Remember, because there is a banana in the pie, you can say it's healthy and good for you.

Banoffee Pie

Ingredients

2 Cans Sweetened Condensed Milk
40 Nilla Wafers
¼ Cup Salted butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
2 bananas, sliced
Cool Whip (or whip your own heavy cream, vanilla and sugar)


Directions

1) Take the labels off the cans of Sweetened Condensed Milk. Wash the cans. Punch a small hole in the top.


2) Place cans in a slow cooker with water ¼ below the top of the cans. You can place parchment squares over the tops of the cans so water does not drip in. Cook on low for 8 hours.


3) Crush the Nillas in the food processor to a coarse sandy texture. Add melted butter and sugar. Stir well and press into a pie pan. Bake at 350 for 7-9 minutes. Let crust cool.

4) Spread toffee evenly in crust.

5) Top with sliced bananas and whipped cream.