Bonjour! Une Tarte au Banoffee, S'il-vous- plaît?

Hold on! No, you're not on the wrong page. That was me putting to use the French I learned! Now that literally translates to -

"Hello! Some Banoffee Pie, Please? 

So, a lot can happen in 3 months and 27 days, and a lot did. Oui, I completed French A1 part 1, started with a painting, did a crash course in cake decoration and for the first time ever in last 8 years of our marriage, we celebrated one of our regional festivals at home. Winter is gone and summer is here, and life has been crazy busy once again! Seriously, I've never been so lost in my entire life. When I look back it all seems like a roller coaster, but today I know that work will no longer be an excuse to do something more with life.

How have you all been? I terribly missed this page and all who frequent it. It's so good to be back to writing and I hope to write one post at least a week! And did I tell you, now my  blog is called "Of Food, Life and Travel" and not leisure pleasures? Which means, I will try my best to incorporate all my travel and life tales here, past and future, apart from the cooking adventures! Wish me luck and keep reading.

It was not until lately I came across this heavily underrated dessert and of all things, this is the one that I would thank the English for! It is probably the easiest to put together and the tastiest ever! The incredible union of the most perfect flavours that will take your taste buds for an ecstatic ride. Bring on your signature improvisations and this humble dessert will take it all in the right stride. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Peppermint Banoffee Pie!

It's still debatable whom to thank for the wonder called "Dulce de leche" and in this recipe I made it from scratch! Obviously, after some failed attempts of trying to spot it in the supermarket shelves here in Delhi. Going by the name of it,  I never knew one could make dulce de leche at home. Even if one could, I never thought it to be this easy. Thanks to Seriouseats.com, a can of unopened condensed milk is all you need!

And, did I say this could be a no-bake dessert too? Well, these could be made and served in individual shot glasses, but today let's give the pie pans a chance to cook up something extraordinary. Shall we?

INGREDIENTS USED:

For Banofee Pie 

Condensed Milk, 1 can or 400 grams (translates to one can of dulce de leche) 

Bananas, 2- 3, large, sliced 

Whipping Cream, 250-300gms 

Digestive biscuits or Marie biscuit, 200gms 

Butter, 100gms, melted (I used salted) 

For Ganache Drip (optional) 

Dark chocolate chips - 100-200 grams 

Heavy cream - 50-100 grams 

Peppermint extract, a drop or two 

Crushed butter scotch chips for that extra crunch

 
HOW TO:

Break biscuits into pieces and transfer to a blender. Pour 3/4th of the butter and blend it well. Remove from blender and mix again using clean hands and add the rest of the butter, if needed. It should be slightly grainy and not too smooth.

Line a pie pan with aluminium foil and give a neat layer of biscuit and butter mix as base. Refrigerate it for some time. Now, if you want a more crunchier base, bake it for 10 minutes a 160 degree C.

Open your can of condensed milk turned dulce de leche and carefully spread it over the biscuit layer.

Top it up with sliced bananas.

Now, this is an optional step but is an improvisation I made. My friends loved this twist. Heat heavy cream in a pan and when it is about to boil, that is when the small bubbles start appearing around the edges, turn it off. Mix in the dark chocolate chips and close it with a lid and leave it so for 10-15 min. Once the mix has cooled and the chocolate melted, whisk it well to get nice shiny pourable ganache. Add peppermint extract to give it a fresh minty flavour.

Now using a spoon, drip ganache over the banana layer. Not to worry about the design and how the drip falls, the idea is to get enough of ganache there.

Beat the whipping cream to stiff peaks and spoon it over the bananas. I added some vanilla extract too while whipping

Finish it with some final swirls of ganache drip and crushed butterscotch ships for some crunch!

Refrigerate for a while before serving. Bon appétit!

Making Dulce de leche (I almost forgot to add this)

Place a can of unopened condensed milk in a large pan and top it with water so that it covers the can. Now, keep on boiling it for 3 hours, topping up with boiling water from a kettle as needed. Ensure that the can remains covered in water all the time, as otherwise there is a risk of the can bursting open. So check every 30 minutes or so. Remove and leave to cool completely. You can make this ahead or even boil several tins at one go and store the unopened cans in the fridge for several months. For more details you may also check here