BANOFFEE PIE

I have been dying to try out Chuck Hughes' Banoffee Pie and tonight I finally made it. The bottom layer of the pie is ground up Oreo's and melted butter, followed by caramel, bananas and whipping cream. Could it sound more heavenly?! I however stray a bit from Chuck's recipe, as instead of using boiled evaporated milk as the caramel, I made my own caramel. (Which for those of you who don't know, is SUPER easy and takes legitimately 10 minuets max!) This dessert was so great, fun to make, and a total hit with my family tonight! Give it a try!
 

Banoffee Pie
Serves 4

Ingredients: 
- 20 Oreo cookies
- 1/4 cup butter, melted (60 ml)
- 1 can of condensed milk (300 ml) ** ( Instead of this I made my own caramel. To do that: dissolve one cup of sugar into 1/3 cup of water. Bring to a boil on med-high heat stirring occasionally (5-7 minutes max). Once you reach a medium brown colour add in 1/3 cup of cream and thicken on low heat for about 2 minutes. Finish with a splash of vanilla and cool.)
- 2 ripe bananas, sliced
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2 cups 35 % cream (500 ml) (I used whipping cream instead)
- 1/4 cup icing sugar (60 ml)
- 2 tablespoons strong coffee (30 ml) 

 

Directions:
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 F (180 C).
- In a food processor, add the cookies and process until it becomes a crumb like mixture. Add butter and process again. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, take the condensed milk can and place it in an oven-proof stockpot filled with water. DO NOT OPEN THE CAN. Make sure the can is constantly covered in water. Bake in the oven for 3 ½ hours. Remove, let cool, open and set aside.
- In a bowl, mix the bananas with lemon juice. Set aside.
- Whip the cream with icing sugar and coffee in another bowl until soft peaks form. 

To serve: Using a round 4 inch mold directly on the serving plate, put a layer of the cookie mixture, then the slices of bananas, cover with the condensed milk (now toffee) and repeat the layers. Remove the mold and garnish with a dollop of cream. (I just used a regular circle cake mold as my cake was for a family of 8!) 

 

photo credit: my sissy

THE ELVIS PRESLEY

Elvis Presley's Fried Peanut Butter and Banana is a classic. The King loved his peanut butter and banana sandwiches but with a twist - they were fried! This sandwich is so delicious, such comfort food and one of my first creations as a blooming chef when I was 12 years old! They were all I could make one sumemr! The sandwich is so simple to make, and a perfect rainy day activity for the kids. This sandwich is fried in a pan just like making a grilled cheese - except it is sweet!

Here is the recipe - try it out! It will probably bring most of you back to your youth!

Ingredients: Serves 1

- 1 small ripe banana (or half of a large banana)  - 2 slices white bread - 2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter (don’t use extra-smooth) - 2 tablespoons butter Directions:  - Slice the banana into thin rounds - Spread the peanut butter onto to one piece of the bread and the layer on the banana  - Butter each outer layer of bread  - Heat a frying pan to medium-high heat (you are really looking for a quick golden brown toasted bread as the peanut butter will melt much faster then say cheese in a grilled cheese)  - Place one side down in the pan and flip once the bottom side is golden-brown - Serve and enjoy! photo credit: google images