Banoffee Pie

Now that the rains have stopped and the weather has calmed, time to relax and enjoy me-time with this no-bake pie.

Serves  6-9
Prep Time  20 minutes
Cooking Time  5 minutes (if you will make your own caramel)

Ingredients:

BASE/CRUST

• 100g butter, melted
• 250g digestive biscuits or graham crackers, crushed

CARAMEL

• 397g can of caramel, OR,

• 100g butter 
• 100g brown sugar
• 397g can condensed milk

TOP

• 6 bananas
• 300ml carton whipping cream
• cocoa powder or grated chocolate 

CONTAINER

• 24cm loose-bottomed cake tin, greased, OR

• 3 pcs 6" aluminum tray (for smaller servings)

Cooking Procedure:

1. In a bowl, mix biscuit crumbs and butter.
2. Spoon and press the crumbs onto the base of the tin/tray, and about halfway up the sides to make a pie shell. Chill for 10 minutes.
3. (If you are making your own caramel) Melt the butter and sugar into a non-stick saucepan over low heat, stirring all the time until the sugar has dissolved. Add the condensed milk and bring to a rapid boil for about a minute, again stirring all the time for a thick golden caramel.  
4. Spread the caramel over the biscuit base, cool, and then chill for about 1 hour (until firm or until ready to serve). 
5. Carefully lift the pie from the tin/tray and place on a serving plate. (Actually, you can also eat it straight from the tray! :-D) 
6. Slice the bananas. 
7. Whip the cream and fold half of the bananas into it.  
8. Spoon the banana-cream mixture over the base. 
9. Put the remaining bananas on top. 
10. Finish with cocoa powder or grated chocolate. 

1. Make sure that you really boil the filling for at least 1 minute to make it a perfect squidgy caramel. Just be careful not burn it. Remember to stir, stir, and stir!
2. Use the back of a teaspoon to press the crumbs into the base.
3. No worries, the biscuit base will harden once chilled.
4. If you are doing more than a single tray, sensibly, you have to divide the caramel (and other ingredients) between the bases. 
5. Use more bananas if you want. Heck, it's your pie! :-) 
6. You can use a beater or a whisk to whip the cream. Key is to mix it in uniform strokes to let air in the cream and fluff it. Of course, whisking takes more time than using an electric beater. 
7. Do not whip the cream until you are ready to serve it. It becomes runny after some time and you don't want a watery pie.   

Thank you, Heizel and Jojai for suggesting that I feature an easy-to-do, no-bake dessert. 

Enjoy! :-)

Recipe from Nestlé Carnation.