Banoffee Pie

Banoffee Pie

It’s another #TastyTuesday and this week I’m serving up Banoffee Pie. As with many of the British desserts I’ve posted here, if you are at all concerned with your cholesterol level, walk away now. Trust me, a little banoffee pie goes a long way.

Banoffee is very popular in the UK and you’ll find some variation of a banoffee dessert in pubs and restaurants all over the country. Banoffee cheesecake, cupcakes, tarts, sundaes . . . you get the idea.

This recipe is from my sister-in-law’s mother-in-law and it is delicious. Let me know if you make it and what you think!

Banoffee PIe

For the base:
100 grams/ 7 Tbsp butter, melted
250 grams/ .5 pounds digestive biscuits/graham crackers, crushed

For the caramel:
100 grams/ 7 Tbsp butter
100 grams/.5 cup soft dark brown sugar
397 gram/14 ounce can Carnation Condensed Milk

For the top:
4 small bananas
300 ml carton/1.25 cups whipping cream, lightly whipped
grated chocolate

1. You will need a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin, greased, or if, like me, you don’t own such a thing, you can use an 8-inch pie plate.
2. Crush the biscuits or graham crackers and pour them in a bowl. Add the melted butter and mix in. Spoon the crumbs into the base and about halfway up the sides of the tin/plate to make a pie shell. Chill for 10 minutes.
3. Melt the butter and sugar for the caramel in a non-stick saucepan over a low heat, stirring constantly until the sugar has dissolved. Add the condensed milk and bring to a rapid boil for about a minute, stirring until it becomes a thick golden caramel. Spread the caramel over the base, cool and then chill for about 1 hour, until firm or ready to serve.
4. Slice the bananas and fold half of them into the softly whipped cream and spoon over the caramel. Decorate with the remaining bananas and finish with the grated chocolate.

Hey, It’s Tasty . . . Friday!

So… I’ve been experiencing some technical difficulties here at expatrimummy, hence the lack of posting, and though the issues aren’t quite ironed out I expect they will be soon. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, how about a Tasty Tuesday on Friday? Today we’re making apple crumble–an easy classic British dessert, similar to an American apple crisp, but probably with way more butter and sugar involved.

I don’t follow a specific recipe; my mother-in-law taught me how to make this many years ago before we were in-laws at all. It’s simple and a great comfort food for a cold winter’s night.

Apple Crumble

As many cooking apples (peeled, cored and sliced) as will fit into your chosen baking dish.
Equal parts white flour, white sugar, and about half as much butter (I generally use a cup of flour and sugar and either add more if I need it or freeze the excess).

1. Peel, core and slice your apples and put them in your baking dish.
2. Mix together the flour and sugar, then cut in the butter.
3. Sprinkle the flour mixture overtop the apples, then put in a 350°F oven and bake until done, about 30 minutes.

You can vary this by adding sugar to the apples if they’re particularly tart, or cinnamon, or add cinnamon to the topping or use brown sugar instead of white. My mother-in-law frequently adds blackberries to the apples if she’s got them to hand. Make it your own or enjoy as is. Serve it with ice cream or custard (we don’t make our own custard from scratch; we use Bird’s Custard Powder made up with milk and sugar in the microwave).

 

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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, from our back door to yours.

Christmas Pudding

Christmas pudding photo courtesy of Jay Springett on Wikimedia Commons.

Today’s recipe is another repeat from a few years ago—hope you enjoy it!

Ah, the Christmas pudding. Banned by the Puritans, feared by the (modern) Americans, loved by (most of) the British. My husband has been making Christmas pudding to scare my family with for years, as it simply isn’t Christmas for him without one. As for me, my thoughts on Christmas pudding are this: meh.

It’s a marvelous thing to see on Christmas day, after it has been steamed for a few hours, doused with brandy and set alight before bringing it to the table. When my nephews were a wee bit smaller than they are now (let’s just say they are much, much taller than I am these days), their eyes would grow to saucer-size at the sight of a dessert actually on fire. But no way were they going to eat it.

This is another Christmas tradition that can be made months in advance, ideally six. (No, that has never been managed in my household.) Much like the Christmas fruitcake, full of dried raisins, cranberries, cherries, figs, whatever you like (no scary candied fruits, please!), some cloves, a few eggs, some nutmeg, a bit of flour, brown sugar, bread crumbs, butter, ginger, and most important, the booze: 1/2 cup of rum and 1/3 cup of cognac or brandy. (Though you don’t necessarily need to use both.) Steam for about two hours.

On the day, you steam it again for another 45 minutes or so, douse it in brandy, and set it alight. Usually served with a side of brandy butter: butter, sugar, and brandy all mixed together. My husband has also always been in charge of that particular mix, and all I know is it’s equal parts butter and sugar with as much brandy as the mix can take. Good luck.