Banoffee Pie> for those who cannot have coconut !!!!

[Guest guest]

For those of us who cannot have coconut (bugger!)

This is a bit of a fiddly recipe, but for those of you who love

something really special and really, really delicious and are

prepared to do the work, this is a very good recipe. I have made it

once, and it did work. Of course I used the frozen pastry, I would

never attempt pastry.

I also use a deep pie dish, pile it high with the cream and buy some

of those yummy dried sugar bananas and crush them and sprinkle them

over the cream.

Now that bananas are a bit cheaper, have a go at this, it is

decadent! And lovely during summer to have a cold pie dessert.

I wish I could eat a bit now!!!!!!!!!!!

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BANOFFEE PIE

This pie, an easy take on toffee with bananas (hence the name), made

its debut at The Hungry Monk, a pub in England, in 1972. Traditional

recipes involve boiling unopened cans of condensed milk, but since

that sometimes results in explosions, we thought you might prefer

our method.

2 cups canned sweetened condensed milk (21 oz)

1 (9-inch) round of refrigerated pie dough (from 15-oz package)

3 large bananas

1 1/2 cups chilled heavy cream

1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar

Special equipment: a 9-inch pie plate (preferably deep dish)

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425°F.

Pour condensed milk into pie plate and stir in a generous pinch of

salt. Cover pie plate with foil and crimp foil tightly around rim.

Put in a roasting pan, then add enough boiling-hot water to reach

halfway up side of pie plate, making sure that foil is above water.

Bake, refilling pan to halfway with water about every 40 minutes,

until milk is thick and a deep golden caramel color, about 2 hours.

Remove pie plate from water bath and transfer toffee to a bowl, then

chill toffee, uncovered, until it is cold, about 1 hour.

While toffee is chilling, clean pie plate and bake piecrust in it

according to package instructions. Cool piecrust completely in pan

on a rack, about 20 minutes.

Spread toffee evenly in crust, and chill, uncovered, 15 minutes.

Cut bananas into 1/4-inch-thick slices and pile over toffee.

Beat cream with brown sugar in a clean bowl with an electric mixer

until it just holds soft peaks, then mound over top of pie.

Cooks' notes:

• Toffee can be chilled up to 2 days (cover after 1 hour).

• Toffee-filled crust can be chilled up to 3 hours.