Banoffee Pie

Soooooo.. Banoffee Pie. Have you heard of it? Until last week I definitely hadn't, or thought that I hadn't but actually have since it's what Keira Knightly brings that guy that loves her, but she didn't marry in Love Actually, still no? 

Check iittttttttt

Alright, lets get to the Banoffee. Holy crap is this good. Also the first pie I've made that comes in perfect slice form instead of everything just sort of crumbling, and has a nice layered look to it. Also I mean, cookie, toffee, banana and whipped cream seriously belong together. I was trying to think of another fruit that might go well here and I really couldn't. Other fruits would be good but none as good as the banana.

I used a recipe from Saveur and didn't modify the filling at all, but used a different crust. Although I'm sure the digestive biscuits would be tasty as well. The crust I used is from an article on the Gourmet app about Momofuku Milk Bar's Christina Tosi's "Crack Pie".. which itself sounds ha-mazzziiinngggg, and might show up on here given the pie crust made a double batch. The crust is called the "Oat Cookie Crust" and tastes like an oatmeal cookie, but a little less sweet and a little more salty than what you would imagine, which worked great with the pie giving it that lovely salty-sweet action. 

Oat Cookie:

(makes about 1 quarter sheet pan, and enough for 2 pie crusts)

1 stick of butter (8 TBSP) room temp

1/3 cup light brown sugar (I used dark brown sugs)

3 TBSP granulated sugar

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Heat the oven 350

1. Combine butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and cream together on medium high for 2-3 minutes, until fluffy and pale yellow in color. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. On low speed add the egg yolk, increase the speed to medium high and beat for 1-2 minutes, until sugar has dissolved and the mixture is a pale white.

2. On low speed, add flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix for about a minute, until everything comes together and you don't see any more dry ingredients. The dough is a sort of fatty-fluffy mixture compared to your normal cookie dough. 

3. The recipe says to Pam a cookie sheet then put parchment over it here... I just used the parchment paper. I didn't see the reasoning in greasing a cookie sheet then putting parchment over it, and it came out just fine, but maybe there is something I don't know here. So yea, do whatever you want so the cookie doesn't stick to the cookie sheet. 

4. Plop the cookie dough onto the pan and spread it out with a spatula (I used my hands) so that it's 1/4 inch thick, the dough won't cover the whole pan, that's OK.

5. Bake for 15 minutes, or until it resembles a giant oatmeal cookie- caramelized on top and puffed slightly but set firmly.

To Make the cookie a pie crust: 

1 Oat Cookie

1 TBSP packed light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 TBSP melted butter (+1 1/2 TBSP as needed)

1. Put the Oat cookie, brown sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse it on and off until the cookie is broken down and sort of looks like wet sand. You could also do this with your hands if you don't have a food processor.

2. Transfer the crumbs to a bowl and add the 4 TBSP of melted butter and knead it until it's moist enough to form a ball, this is where that extra tablespoon and a half of butter might come in, add it if the mixture isn't moist enough. 

Here is where I veer off of the crack pie path and merge into the Banoffee, I just sort of picked up after the crust part of the saveur recipe. Here is what I did:

Put the crust mixture in a pie tin (or 2) and spread it out with your hands until the crust is evenly distributed along the bottom and sides. Refrigerate for about an hour.

Banoffee time!

For the filling:
  1 stick of unsalted butter
  1/2 cup (4 oz) packed dark brown sugar
  1 14-oz. can condensed milk, such as Carnation brand
 

 4 bananas
  1 pint heavy cream
  Grated chocolate

1. Make the toffee: Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Stir in the brown sugar and melt over low heat. Add the condensed milk and bring the mixture to a boil for a few minutes, stirring continuously. The toffee should darken slightly. Pour the filling into the crust. Cool and chill again for at least one hour until the caramel is firm.

2. To serve, remove the tart from the pan and carefully transfer to a serving plate. Slice the bananas and place them in a single layer on top of the caramel. Whip the cream and spoon it over the toffee and bananas, sealing the filling in. Sprinkle the top of the pie with grated chocolate.