Banoffee Pie?

Juliet: Banoffee pie?
Mark: No, thanks.
Juliet: Thank God. You would've broken my heart if you'd said yes.
Mark: Oh, right, well, lucky you.

- from Love Actually

From one of my favorite (and one of the saddest) scenes from the movie. I won't go into detail about it (because really, do you need to be reminded one more time how much I adore this movie? My husband sure doesn't...) But I bring it up because the pie in question successfully revived my dessert self-confidence after my clementine clafoutis disappointment.

Thanks to my best friend's scrumptious recipe, I made a banoffee pie last night for a birthday party. It's an English dessert made from bananas, whipped cream and boiled condensed milk (hence "banana" and "toffee"), either on a pastry base or one made from crumbled graham cracker/ digestive biscuits, and butter. Aside from having to boil the unopened cans of sweetened condensed milk for 4 hours, this is a cinch to assemble, with no baking whatsoever involved. As the cans of milk heat up, the sugar in it caramelizes, and you end up with the most delightfully milky, gooey toffee ever! The original recipe is a little more involved, requiring you to make your own pastry base but I just made a graham cracker crust. Apart from the very vital ingredient of the condensed milk-turned-toffee, flavoring your whipped cream with coffee is also key.

Sweet, rich, gooey, and a little "fluffy" from the whipped cream, this is not a dessert for the faint-hearted or you calorie-counters out there. But it is oh so blissfully delicious. So the next time you need that little (ok, not so little) something to indulge in or just to remind yourself of one of Serene's favorite movies, do remember this brilliantly decadent British import... :)

1. Boiling sweetened condensed milk to make toffee, 2. After 4 hours, 3. Thick, gooey and delicious!, 4. Banana layer, 5. Banoffee Pie- all assembled, 6. Fast disappearing...

Ingredients:
3 cups crushed graham crackers
1 stick butter, melted
2 cans of sweetened condensed milk
7 large bananas
1 pint whipping cream
1 tsp powdered sugar
2 tsp instant coffee powder (or granules ground into powder)
Cocoa powder

Directions:
Toffee
(you can do this in advance and store the boiled cans of toffee almost indefinitely):
1) Boil unopened cans of condensed milk in a pot for 4 hours, making sure that it is always submerged. Top up water as necessary.
2) If using immediately, make sure you are careful when opening the can as pressure/steam will be released.
3) Empty toffee into a bowl and mix well to achieve uniform consistency. It should be thick and gooey.

Crust:
1) Mix graham cracker crumbs with melted butter.
2) Press into base of 10 x 15 glass baking dish.
3) Chill for at least an hour

Whipped cream
(make sure your bowl and whisk are chilled before whipping. This helps the whipping process enormously):
1) Whip heavy cream till soft peaks.
2) Add coffee powder and powdered sugar
3) Continue whipping till you get barely stiff peaks. (Don't over-whip or you'll get butter...)

Assembly:
1) Spread toffee on graham cracker base.
2) Cut bananas into rounds and layer on toffee.
3) Top with whip cream
4) Sprinkle with cocoa powder.

Serves 8-10 (or 2, depending on your mood and threshold for sugar...)