Chocolate Banoffee Pie

Years ago I stumbled across a recipe for Chocolate Banoffee Pie. It seems it’s not a well-known American recipe, but it should be. It’s a personal favorite of mine, and judging by the expressions of happiness my friends uttered at a recent get-together, it might be a new favorite of some other folks. It certainly wasn’t the hit that the automated garbage can was with the 10 and under crowd in attendance, but this pie had a decently sized group of adults who oohed and ahhed about it.

C’mon. You know you want to make this now.

Chocolate Banoffee Pie (adapted from the Nestlé UK Banoffee Pie recipe)

Ingredients

BASE

• 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 16 sheets honey grahams, crushed (9 ounces)

FILLING
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup loose brown sugar
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 3 ounces dark chocolate, melted

TOPPING

• 1 large banana
• 1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
• Cocoa powder for dusting

Process

BASE
1. Make sure graham crackers are well crushed. I used a food processor.
2. Add cocoa powder, allspice and melted butter to crushed grahams. Blend well.
3. Press mixture into base of 8 inch pie pan or cake pan.
4. Chill well, until base is solid.

FILLING
1. Melt chocolate, set aside.
2. Place butter and sugars in a saucepan over low heat and stir until butter melts and sugar dissolves.
3. Add condensed milk and bring gently to a boil, stirring to make a golden caramel. As soon as mixture comes to a boil, remove from heat.
4. Add molasses and melted chocolate to caramel mixture. Mix thoroughly.
5. Spread filling over chilled graham base. Chill for about 1.5 hours, or until firm. (If you are in a rush, like I often am, 1/2 hour in the freezer seems to do the trick as well).

TOPPING
1. Whip the heavy whipping cream until soft peaks form.
2. Cut banana and gently fold into the whipped cream.
3. Spoon over chocolate toffee base.
4. Decorate as you prefer. Dusting with cocoa powder or chocolate curls is lovely.

Enjoy!