The very first version of the pie was made for a Kiwi friend of mine Tim (Tum). He was a student at college and I was having some of the students over for dinner (I use to do that so they would get a decent feed every now and then) and I asked this young man what was his favourite dessert. He said that he really missed Banoffee Pie. So I looked it up and made one! Well you would think all his Christmas’s had come at once.

This amazingly talented young man became a very dear friend and he and his beautiful wife Shelley have just had their first baby. I am so excited for them and their journey as parents, it made me remember the very first time I made this for Tim. I hope you enjoy this amazing pie and my little trip down memory lane. Thanks for indulging me!

I love making this pie because I’m allergic to bananas and I can’t eat it (yay for my hips), but unfortunately I always cut myself a slice and just have it without banana… so, Ah well… the Caramel is to DIE for… I can just eat big mouthfuls of it with a spoon! So Naughty… BUT anyway here at the Mother Hubbard’s Kitchen, I always make my own pastry, so I have tried to demystify it for you!

Pastry can be tricky at the best of times and most people think time consuming, (hence the myriad of frozen choices at the supermarkets) but if you just follow a few important rules then, pastry is so cheap to make and it tastes 10 times better than what you buy because it doesn’t have any preservatives, emulsifiers or nasties.

1. You must REST your pastry, any pastry after it has been made wrap it in plastic wrap and rest it in the fridge for minimum 1 hour. people say 30 minutes is fine… But if I am honest the best pastry I make is always made wrapped up and in the fridge overnight ready to be used the next morning. This cold rested pastry always tastes the best and is consistently light and crisp.
2. After you have handled your pastry put it back in the fridge. I always turn my oven on to pre heat after I have place the pastry in the dish, so I can just get that pastry cold again, by poping it back in the fridge one last time.
3. To get a nice round pastry, always roll from the centre of the pastry then turn a 1/4, roll form the centre then turn a 1/4 until you have gone around twice, then turn the pastry over and repeat you should then have  perfectly round pastry the size of your dish.
4. With pastry remember to work as quickly and efficiently as possible, the warmer it is the hard it is to handle. I you are having difficultly, just put it back into the fridge until it is cold and start from where you left off.

For my Thermi readers, I think I have really nailed the caramel, it is so tasty, even if you don’t make the pie, just try the caramel and eat it with a spoon, that’s what I did, several times actually, while trying to perfect the recipe!

This recipe makes a very large 26cm pie dish that feeds 12 – 16 people

Just a plug for local farmers, I used Maleny Dairy’s Milk and Cream in this recipe so pop over to their Maleny Dairies Facebook Page and check it out

Ingredients – Sweet Crust Pastry

This is one quantity of Sweet Crust Pastry. It makes approximately 1 large tart shell or 12 small tart shells.

1 Cup (160g) Plain Flour

1 Cup (160g) Self Raising Flour

125g Butter (softened)

2 Tablespoons (40g) Sugar

1 Egg

1/4 Cup (65g) Cold Full Cream Milk

Pinch of Salt

Ingredients – Caramel Tart

125g Unsalted Butter

250g Brown Sugar

2 Tin’s Condensed Milk

50g Golden Syrup

Ingredients – Topping

3-4 Banana’s (Approximately)

600ml (g) Cream (pure or thickened works well)

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence

40g Icing Sugar

Coconut for decoration (optional)

Method – Pastry

1. Place flour, sugar and salt into a large mixing bowl, then rub softened butter into flour with your finger tips until it resembles a crumb.

2. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and place the egg and milk into the centre.

3. Gradually add the dry mixture into centre of the well then mix until combined and forms a dough.

4. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes at least (an hour is better). Please note that this is an important set and can not be overlooked if you want good pastry!

5. When rested place dough onto a lightly floured board and gently roll it out turning after each roll to form a round flat pastry the will cover your pie tin.

6. Grease you pie tin well and gently place the pastry in, making sure that the pastry is covering the whole shell. with a fork or pastry cutter, press the edge of the pastry against the edge of the tin and then cut the edge.

7. Place baking paper over the pastry and cover with blind baking beads, rice or beans. Place back into the fridge and turn the oven on the 180ºC. When the oven reaches temperature, remove case from the fridge and bake for 10 minutes. Then remove baking paper and blind baking ingredients* (please be careful as they are very hot) and bake for a further 7 minutes.

8. Your pastry case is ready to use. If it is a hot day, place the pastry case back into the fridge until you are ready to use it. Or you can make it the day before and when cool place into an airtight container for use the next day.

Method – Tart and Topping

1. Place cream, vanilla and icing sugar into a bowl and whip, then set aside in the refrigerator for later use.

2. Place butter, brown sugar, condensed milk, and golden syrup into a space pan and on a low heat mix continuously until sugar is dissolved and mixture has come together. (approximately 5 – 10 minutes)

3. Turn the heat up to medium and continue to cook mixture until it starts to turn brown and thickens. You must stir continuously to stop the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning. Make sure that the heat is never too high.

4. Pour mixture into prepared tart and allow to cool till room temperature.

5. Place sliced bananas on top then cover with cream (you can slather or pipe) and sprinkle with toasted desiccated coconut (optional).

THERMOMIX METHOD

This recipe was made in the TM5 and can be made with exact quantities in the TM31

Method – Pastry

1. Place flour, sugar, salt and butter into the mixing bowl, mix 10 seconds/speed 5.

2. Add egg and milk and kneed 1 minute/dough function.

3. Turn onto a lightly floured board and bring together to form a ball.

4. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes at least (an hour is better). Please note that this is an important set and can not be overlooked if you want good pastry!

5. When rested, place dough onto a lightly floured board and gently roll it out turning after each roll to form a round flat pastry the will cover your pie tin.

6. Grease your pie tin well and gently place the pastry in, making sure that the pastry is covering the whole shell. with a fork or pastry cutter, press the edge of the pastry against the edge of the tin and then cut the edge.

7. Place baking paper over the pastry and cover with blind baking beads, rice or beans. place back into the fridge and turn the oven on the 180ºC. When to temperature remove case from the fridge and bake for 10 minutes. Then remove baking paper and blind baking ingredients (please be careful as they are very hot) and bake for a further 7 minutes.

8. Your pastry case is ready to use. If it is a hot day, place the pastry case back into the fridge until you are ready to use it. Or you can make it the day before and when cool place into an airtight container for use the next day.

Method – Tart and Topping

1. Place butterfly into mixing bowl and secure in place.

2. Place in cream, vanilla and icing sugar into mixing bowl and beat until thick approximately  1 minute, 30 seconds – 2 minutes/speed 3.5. (The reason for the variation of time is that every cream is different, remember if you over beat it just keep going and make cream. The cream I made for this pie took 1 minute 45 seconds).

3. When finished remove butterfly and scrape cream into a bowl and set aside in the refrigerator.

4. Without cleaning out the bowl, place butter, brown sugar, condensed milk, and golden syrup into the mixing bowl and cook 10 minutes/80/speed 2.

5. Scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl and then cook mixture for 30 minute/TM5 115° or TM31 Varoma/speed 3. Leave the MC off!

6. Pour mixture into prepared tart and allow to cool to room temperature.

7. Place sliced bananas on top then cover with cream (you can slather or pipe) and sprinkle with toasted desiccated coconut (optional).

With or without toasted coconut… I prefer with coconut and no banana 🙂

Please do try and make your own pastry, it isn’t that hard and it is very satisfying, you won’t ever go back! If you are going to buy pastry cases this mixture will probably fill 2 – 3 of the shop bough ones as it is a large pie.

Thanks for reading! I look forward to hearing your stories and also some feed back on the recipe.

Enjoy Irresponsibly

Liz xx

If you like this recipe maybe you might like these?

Custard Tea Cake (Thermomix Method Included)

Chicken and Corn Impossible Pie (Thermomix Method Included)

Slow Cooker Meat Pies

Elizabeth Connolly

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I have been cooking since I can remember. I am a Thermomix consultant, so now (whenever possible) try to give you Conventional AND Thermomix methods for the recipes. I like to share tips on how to save money and how making food from scratch isn't really that hard (especially with a Thermomix). If you have any questions about the Thermomix or cooking/food in general please email me as I'm happy to chat.
Liz xx
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