Banoffee pie also referred to as banoffy and banoffi, is a pastry from England made using bananas as the key ingredient, along with cream andtoffee made out of boiled condensed milk. The name of the pie is an amalgamation of the words banana and toffee. Popular variations of this pastry include - Coffee Banoffee Pie, Alcoholic Banoffee Pie, Banoffee and Marshmellow Cake and Banoffee Cupcakes.
History of Banoffee Recipe
The invention of Banoffee pie is claimed by Ian Dowding and Nigel Mackenzie who were the owners of the Hungry Monk restaurant at Jevington in East Sussex in 1972. The invention was born out of an inspiration from an American dish called "Blum's Coffee Toffee Pie" comprising a gooey toffee with a topping of whipped cream flavored with coffee. This recipe was taken in by Ian Dowding to create a soft caramel toffee from condensed milk by boiling it and including a layer of bananas. The dish christened as "bannofi" became an instant hit among the customers of the restaurant. The recipe spread among other restaurants including ones in America and Australia. It was being sold as American pie since 1994 in supermarkets. The pie has gained immense popularity across the world including in Asian countries such as India where it is a backpacker sweet food since 1978 and 79 introduced by travelling Westerners. Since then, it has become a fixed dessert in tourist hotels of Himachel Pradesh and Goa in India
Banoffee RecipeOverview and Serving Suggestions
Banoffee pie is made using bananas, biscuits, butter, cream, icing sugar, dark chocolate and caramel. A mixture of butter and crushed biscuits is prepared by heating the butter slightly and mixing the biscuits into it. The layer is baked a little to turn brown, cooled to make the pie base and topped with caramel. This is chilled and further layered with banana slices which are again topped with melted chocolate and beaten whipped cream with icing sugar. The dessert is topped with decorating chocolate and served.
Popular Banoffivariations
· Some piesmay also incorporate chocolate and coffee.
· Coffee Banoffee pie includes coffee as the flavoring ingredient in addition to the regular pie ingredients. Instant coffee powder is sprinkled over the whipped cream layer.
· Alcoholic banoffee pie is made using shots of Baileys and dark rum in addition to the regular pie ingredients. The bananas are set on low heat in a pan over which the rum is poured. The Baileys is mixed with the whipped cream topping.
· Banoffee and Marshmallow cake includes the marshmallows along with bananas in the banana layer of the pie.
· Bannoffee cupcake is the baked version of the pie ingredients with a topping of bananas and whipped cream.
Banoffy: Trivia
The recipe for Banoffee piewas printed in the book - The Deeper Secrets of the Hungry Monk in 1974 and in the later edition of the cookbook - Hungry Monk called In Heaven with the Hungry Monk in 1997.