Craving a dessert that balances creamy caramel and banana sweetness? This banoffee pie, with its rich caramel, silky crème pâtissière, and light whipped cream topping in a buttery puff pastry shell, is exactly what you need

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Banoffee pie

Ingredients

23cm laminated puff pastry shell

For the caramel

290ml full-cream milk
190ml whipping cream
200g white sugar
1 tsp salt

For the crème pâtissiére (pastry cream)

80g white sugar
1 egg, room temperature
3 egg yolks
3 Tbsp cornflour
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
20g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes, room temperature

For the topping

3-4 bananas, peeled, and thinly sliced
150ml whipping cream
50g grated chocolate (I used milk chocolate)

Method

1. To make the caramel, in a medium-sized pot over medium heat, heat the milk and cream until it starts to steam – do not let it boil.
2. Allow it to steam for about 1 minute, then turn off the heat.
3. Add the sugar to a pan and set the heat to medium. Do not stir the sugar at all! If you want to mix the sugar as it caramelises, simply swirl the pan around.
4. Do this every few seconds to make sure all the sugar is coated well. The sugar will bubble and take on a golden colour as it begins to caramelise, and the caramelised sugar should be a deep, golden-brown colour.
5. If it turns dark brown, it has burnt. Once the sugar has caramelised, turn off the heat.
6. While the pan is still hot and the heat is off, add the warm milk-cream mixture to the caramel, stirring continuously as you do so, followed by the salt.
7. The caramel might splatter slightly. Keep whisking until the mixture is well combined.
8. There might be a few hard bits of caramel that seized while adding the milk, but don’t worry; this will melt later.

To make the crème pâtissiére

1. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the sugar, egg, egg yolks and cornflour, and whisk until thick and pale yellow in colour. Then add in the vanilla bean paste or extract, and mix.
2. Pour about one-third of a cup of the caramel into the crème pâtissiére batter, stirring continuously to prevent the eggs from seizing.
3. This tempers the eggs so they do not cook when adding them to the warm caramel.
4. Add this mixture back to the remaining caramel, whisking continuously, and set the heat to medium.
5. Continue whisking. After about 7 minutes you will notice the mixture becoming thicker.
6. After a few more minutes you will start to see bubbles forming and popping – this is when you know the crème pâtissiére is ready (see Notes and Tips).
7. Remove from the heat and add the cubed butter, one piece at a time, stirring continuously to melt the butter. The butter makes the crème pâtissiére smooth and shiny.
8. Pour the crème pâtissiére into the tart shell and place a piece of cling wrap on top. Make sure it touches the crème pâtissiére, to prevent a skin from forming.
9. Allow it to set in the fridge for 3–4 hours, or overnight.
10. Once you are ready to assemble the pie, remove the cling wrap from the crème pâtissiére.
11. Arrange the sliced bananas on top. Beat the whipping cream in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until stiff peaks form.
12. Dollop the cream on top of the pie and top with grated chocolate.

*This recipe was republished with permission from Penguin Random House

Banoffee pie

• Author: Zorah Booley Samaai

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

One 23cm laminated puff pastry shell

For the caramel

290ml full-cream milk
190ml whipping cream
200g white sugar
1 tsp salt

For the crème pâtissiére (pastry cream)

80g white sugar
1 egg, room temperature
3 egg yolks
3 Tbsp cornflour
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
20g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes, room temperature

For the topping

3–4 bananas, peeled, and thinly sliced
150ml whipping cream
50g grated chocolate (I used milk chocolate)

Instructions

1. To make the caramel, in a medium-sized pot over medium heat, heat the milk and cream until it starts to steam – do not let it boil.
2. Allow it to steam for about 1 minute, then turn off the heat.
3. Add the sugar to a pan and set the heat to medium. Do not stir the sugar at all! If you want to mix the sugar as it caramelises, simply swirl the pan around.
4. Do this every few seconds to make sure all the sugar is coated well. The sugar will bubble and take on a golden colour as it begins to caramelise, and the caramelised sugar should be a deep, golden-brown colour.
5. If it turns dark brown, it has burnt. Once the sugar has caramelised, turn off the heat.
6. While the pan is still hot and the heat is off, add the warm milk-cream mixture to the caramel, stirring continuously as you do so, followed by the salt.
7. The caramel might splatter slightly. Keep whisking until the mixture is well combined.
8. There might be a few hard bits of caramel that seized while adding the milk, but don’t worry; this will melt later.

To make the crème pâtissiére

1. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the sugar, egg, egg yolks and cornflour, and whisk until thick and pale yellow in colour. Then add in the vanilla bean paste or extract, and mix.
2. Pour about one-third of a cup of the caramel into the crème pâtissiére batter, stirring continuously to prevent the eggs from seizing.
3. This tempers the eggs so they do not cook when adding them to the warm caramel.
4. Add this mixture back to the remaining caramel, whisking continuously, and set the heat to medium.
5. Continue whisking. After about 7 minutes you will notice the mixture becoming thicker.
6. After a few more minutes you will start to see bubbles forming and popping – this is when you know the crème pâtissiére is ready (see Notes and Tips).
7. Remove from the heat and add the cubed butter, one piece at a time, stirring continuously to melt the butter. The butter makes the crème pâtissiére smooth and shiny.
8. Pour the crème pâtissiére into the tart shell and place a piece of cling wrap on top. Make sure it touches the crème pâtissiére, to prevent a skin from forming.
9. Allow it to set in the fridge for 3–4 hours, or overnight.
10. Once you are ready to assemble the pie, remove the cling wrap from the crème pâtissiére.
11. Arrange the sliced bananas on top. Beat the whipping cream in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until stiff peaks form.
12. Dollop the cream on top of the pie and top with grated chocolate.

Notes

Chef Zorah Booley Samaai’s notes and tips

Why are there bits of hard caramel in the caramel mixture? Sometimes when we add the cold milk mixture to the caramel too fast, the caramel seizes. Ideally, the milk should still be a little bit warm so you aren’t adding anything cold, which will prevent the mixture from combining nicely.

How do I know when the crème pâtissiére is ready? I can’t give an exact amount of time because each stove is different. Sometimes it can take up to 10 minutes. Always have your heat set to medium, no higher, or the crème pâtissiére could burn. When it starts to bubble and steam, you’ll know it is ready. The cornflour will be cooked off at this point, which is what we want.

Storage. This pie will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. Make sure to cover it tightly with cling wrap.

 

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