Banoffee Pie

There are two fruits I have hated for my entire life that I can remember: pears and bananas. I remember smelling a mythical banana warming in the sun in the car rides home from school and, no lie, had a nightmare one time about a poached pear dessert my mom had made with grape juice (oh yeah, other childhood nemesis: Grape Juice). In recent years I learned that fresh pears are quite tasty, in fact, they may be among my favorite fruits, but I still gag a little when I see or smell a poached pear. I ate a baby banana off of a tree in the Dominican Republic and realized I had missed out on a huge thing, and then I started eating banana pudding, bananas on cheerios, bananas with peanut butter, etc. but still tiptoed around bananas in other forms. Well, I have not come to terms with poached pears yet but I think I have finally crossed the line into loving bananas: Banoffee Pie, a whole pie rich with the flavor of fresh banana.

I have mentioned my new cookbook before, Cooking Essentials, which my sweet friend Erin gave me for Christmas - I haven't yet ventured into the international entrees but I have loved flipping through the desserts (Black Forest Gateau came from this particular book).

So - a non-traditional Banoffee Pie, delicious enough to wholly convert me:



Banoffee Pie

Preheat oven to 350

For the walnut pie crust:
1/3 c. ground walnuts
2 c. all-purpose flour
3 T unsalted butter, chilled and chopped into cubes
*Rub butter into flour/walnut mixture with fingers, incorporating into flour until a crumbly, breadcrumby dough forms
3-6 T cold iced water
*add cold water in with a knife, making chopping motions to incorporate in until a dough forms. Roll dough into a ball in wax paper and store in fridge for 15 minutes. Remove, with pin roll out to fit a 9" tart pan and refrigerate again for 20 minutes. I laid it out on wax and covered it with wax so when I went to fit it in the pan I could easily transfer it and push it down.
*Leaving wax paper on top, weigh down pie shell with baking weights, beads, beans, or a cake pan (not so effective but it was all I had!). Bake 10 minutes, remove weights, bake another 15 minutes or until golden

For the filling:

1 1/4 c. sweetened condensed milk
1/3 c. unsalted butter (=entire stick less 3 T)
2 T dark corn syrup
*bring milk, butter and syrup to a boil, stirring, for 5 minutes. Let simmer until a light caramel color and thick. Let cool slightly
3 bananas
*cut bananas into preferred shape (I like to quarter the banana then cut slices out of each piece, making a flat thin banana strip about 1 in. long)
*Lay bananas on bottom of baked pie crust, then pour caramel topping out on top and smooth evenly over pie.
*Refrigerate for 30 minutes

For the topping:
2 c. heavy whipping cream
3 T sugar
1 banana
dark chocolate, melted
*Whip up some cream, sweetening it as you prefer, and drop spoonfuls onto top of pie - lacing with pieces of banana and topping with melted dark chocolate.

Gourmand!