Banoffee Pie
This is one of the easiest puddings to make, made even easier by the fact that you can make it in stages. The toffee layer is made by boiling a tin of condensed milk for three hours on the stove top or 6 hours in the slow cooker on 'high' (the advantage of the latter method being that you can do more than one tin a time and keep one for later!). You can find ready-made 'dolce de leche' in most supermarkets if you don't want to cook it yourself.
Ingredients
150g plain flour (and extra for dusting)
75g salted butter
1 egg, separated
397g tin condensed milk (boiled for three hours and left to cool in the tin before opening)
2 bananas, sliced
250ml double cream, whipped
dark chocolate (small amount for decorating)
Equipment
Tala performance Pie dish, 9 inches
clingfilm
sharp knife
star plunger cutter (optional)
foil
Method
1. Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Then add the sugar and mix in the egg yolk. Add a teaspoon or two of cold water if the mixture doesn't gather into a ball easily.
2. Wrap the ball of pastry in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Dust the work surface with flour and roll out fairly thinly. Drape the pastry over a rolling pin and lay it over the pie dish, pressing it down to neatly to line the interior of the dish. Trim around the top edge with a sharp knife.
4. Re-roll the scraps very thinly and cut numerous star shapes with the plunger cutter (or other small cutter).
5. Paint the rim of the pie dish with egg white, attach the stars all the way around the edge and paint them with more of the egg white.
6. Set the oven to 170 degrees Celsius fan (338 degrees Fahrenheit) and while it comes up to temperature, return the pastry case to the fridge to rest for a few more minutes.
7. Losely line the pie dish with foil (taking care that it doesn't stick to the egg white) and fill with baking beans.
8. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and beans and bake for a further 5 minutes. Allow to cool completely in the pie dish.
9. Spoon the luscious toffee mixture from the tin into the pastry case and spread out evenly.
10. Arrange the banana slices on top, followed by the whipped cream, which you can swirl attractively with the mini spatula and grate a little dark chocolate on top to decorate.
11. Refrigerate until time to serve.
Tips
• If you are pushed for time, all of step one can be done in seconds in the food processor.
• The pastry contains raw eggs, so it's important that the plunger cutter is cleaned carefully. The cutter can be easily pulled apart to reveal the four component pieces. Wash in warm soapy water and dry before reassembling.