Strawboffee Pie

  • Strawboffee PieWork with me on this one, okay?

    There’s this heavenly dessert known as Banoffee Pie, and if you’ve heard of it you’re nodding your head right now because you agree that it was made in heaven.  Picture the layers starting from the bottom: cookie crumb crust, thick layer of toffee, sliced bananas, fresh whipped cream, chocolate shavings.  Now you understand. 
    I was introduced to this masterpiece on a trip to Ireland with my Dad and sister back in 2003… and I have no plausible reason as to why I haven’t made it since my sister and I wolfed down that inaugural piece in a pub somewhere around Waterford.  Or maybe Wexford.  I have denied The Husband (who was not on said trip) the pleasures of Banoffee Pie, and that makes me a shameful wife.  Up until now.

    So you’re up to speed on the Banoffee Pie story, but still flummoxed about the title of this post (I know, I can meander).  Here’s the scoop:  meet Heather, who is from the UK (imagine for a second how delightful it would be to be from the land of Banoffee Pie), who was kind enough to share her twist on the classic dessert a few months ago.  When she informed me about her banoffee bastardization (strawberries instead of bananas), I knew I had to wait for strawberry season before diving into the dessert.  Well, it’s June, and the berries are beckoning…

    A few snippets from Heather about the genesis of the recipe (an accomodation to her husband’s strange adversity to one of the world’s most popular flavors), meant to be read with a cute UK accent: “It’s my twist on Banoffee Pie, which I love. Unfortunately, Mark’s sentiments towards the gooey delight are less enthusiastic as he has a pathological hatred of bananas – clearly this makes enjoying Banoffee Pie a challenge. Not prepared to live the rest of my life denied the pleasures of such a sweet and sticky dessert, I decided one day to substitute the evil fruit for one much more acceptable – strawberries. Strawboffee Pie was born.”  So there you have it.

    Recipe from the kitchen of UK Heather:

    1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz.)

    1 1/4 cups McVitie’s digestive biscuit crumbs (or graham cracker crumbs)

    1/4 cup sugar

    1/3 cup butter (salted)

    3 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced

    1 cup heavy whipping cream

    1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

    1 Flake chocolate bar (or 1 ounce shaved semi-sweet chocolate)

    1. Strawboffee Pie with Toffee LayerTOFFEE: Place can of sweetened condensed milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and fill with water, covering top of can.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat slightly, covered, boiling for 2 – 3 hours.  Using a pair of tongs, turn the tin over every 20 minutes or so.  Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before carefully opening can.
    2. CRUST: Preheat oven to 375°.  Melt butter and stir in cookie crumbs and sugar until well blended.  Press crumbs evenly into bottom and up sides of a 9″ pie plate or removeable-bottomed tart pan.  Bake for 7 – 9 minutes, until lightly golden.  Cool on a wire rack.
    3. Pour ‘toffee’ into cooled, cookie crumb base (like picture at right) and place in fridge for 30 minutes (until firm).  Arrange strawberries on top of toffee layer (like picture below).
    4. WHIPPED CREAM: Using the whisk attachment of an electric mixer, whip cream with sugar until soft peaks form (scraping down sides of bowl once or twice throughout).  Spread on top of strawberry layer, and sprinkle chocolate bits on top.  Keep in fridge until ready to serve.

    Tips:

    • Strawboffee Pie with Strawberry LayerThe toffee does take time.  As Heather says, “so simple, although you need to have a good movie on the telly, whilst you laboriously make the ‘toffee’ part.”    I am not sure exactly why one has to flip the can over in the pot while it’s boiling, but one doesn’t ask too many questions when it comes to toffee.  And make sure you keep the pot filled with water (I used our big soup pot and added way more water than I needed to, so that it wouldn’t boil down while The Husband and I were out drinking mojitos and playing Bananagrams on the patio.  Hey- that’s funny- I wonder if Heather’s husband Mark also has an irrational adversion to the Bananagrams game?).
    • Crust options… graham crackers are the ubiquitous standard ’round these parts here, but apparently the English McVitie’s Digestive Biscuits are “FAR better” (and that’s a quote).  I wanted to be a rock star and use them for my first-ever Strawboffee Pie, but I wanted to chill out with the mojitos more than I wanted to get in the car and drive to World Market (where I’m told they sell these).  Next time.
    • Garnish?  I kept this pie pure with just the whipped cream on top, but Heather recommends a sprinkling of toasted flaked almonds and a chopped up Cadbury’s Flake chocolate bar crumbled over the whole thing. Like the McVitie’s, you can order them online, or pop out to World Market (which I imagine must be like a reunion ground for swarms of UK expats, meeting up weekly in the British section of the store, fighting over cans of Spotted Dick Pudding and other things with lewd names).
    • Bananas tempt you?  Go for the original Banoffee Pie by slicing bananas overtop the toffee instead of the berries.  There is something enchanting about bananas and toffee together… as long as you’re not pathologically opposed to it.
    • Enjoy!

     

     

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    June 20th, 2012 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: , ,

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