Banoffee Pie

Disney World was amazing, and admittedly I haven't been doing much cooking since I got back. Luckily though I threw together this amazingly simple and unique pie before I left (laziness has kept me from posting it until now).

I made homemade dulce de leche for some ice cream sandwiches for my Star Wars party, and I had so much leftover that I thought it would be nice to use it up in another dessert. I saw a recipe for Banoffee Pie ages ago and it looked like concentrated deliciousness. Banoffee Pie consists of a graham cracker crust, layer of sliced bananas, a layer of dulce de leche and then a generous helping of whipped cream, the whole thing is topped off with chocolate shavings or mini chocolate chips.

Normally I would make my own graham cracker crust and whipped cream, but I was feeling lazy so I used a storebought crust and cool whip. It was delicious (and very fast), but next time I'll be making everything myself.

You can buy cans of dulce de leche or you can make your own with sweetened condensed milk (which will save you a couple bucks). I used this method to make dulce de leche. Be careful though, once you make dulce de leche, you'll constantly be thinking about making more. It's crazy delicious. The combination with of bananas and dulce de leche in Banoffee Pie is especially delicious and nearly addictive. (Seriously, this is my new favorite pie.)

Banoffee Pie
1 store bought graham cracker crust
1 1/2 cans of dulce de leche
1 tub of Cool Whip
1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips
2-3 bananas

Slice bananas.

Place bananas in the graham cracker crust in an even layer.

Cover with dulce de leche.

Top with Cool Whip.

Sprinkle mini chocolate chips.

Let the pie set in the fridge for an hour (or longer, the longer it sets the tastier it is. It's amazing the next day.)

Slice and enjoy. You can slice small servings and feed a lot of people, because it's pretty rich.
Messy slices are just as delicious.

Forgotten Fruit Part 1- Banana Nut Muffins

As many commercials lately have been so willing to point out, we throw away a fair sized percentage (which varies from source to source) of the groceries we buy. There's something so disappointing about finding an untouched bag of formerly fresh fruit in the back of my fridge.

So today when I realized that I had quickly aging nectarines, blueberries and bananas I knew something had to be done.You wouldn't throw away a perfectly good baby, just because it was a little old.

Now to be clear, I'm not saying to eat rotten fruit, I'm talking about that just a bit too soft, possibly bruised, not so attractive fruit you bought last week. The smooshed cherries in the back you bought 2 weeks ago are too far gone.

I think we should start with the classic "old fruit" recipe, banana nut muffins. People in my house seem to very picky about the ripeness of bananas, there's only a 2-3 day window before the bananas are forgotten and left behind a bag of chips.

Banana Nut Muffin (adapted from the Joy of Cooking)
2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3/4 cup of sugar
2-3 ripe bananas (mashed)
1 egg
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 cup of walnuts, chopped (optional)





Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt and nuts. Set aside.
Whisk together the egg, bananas, and vegetable oil.

Combine the flour mixture and banana mixture, but do not over mix. The batter will be pretty firm and not smooth, just mix until it is moist. Divide batter among 12 muffin cups (1 tray), make sure to line it with cupcake liners.

This picture came out a bit more dramatic than I meant it to.

Bake for about 30 minutes until golden brown and let cool.

Banana Oreo Ice Cream

Every summer my ice cream maker stares at me, and every summer I talk about making ice cream, but I just never seem to get motivated enough to do it.
However a recent trip to Boston and a homemade ice cream shop had me inspired. There I tried a wonderful Banana Oreo Ice Cream and have been thinking about replicating it ever since.

I decided not to make a custard base for my ice cream (this would involve eggs and stovetop cooking) and modified this banana ice cream recipe. One of the important changes I made was using fat-free half and half instead of milk or cream and the results were very satisfactory. Bananas have a lot creaminess so even without fat the froze well. (Of course there is fat added when you add the Oreos, but in comparison to most ice creams this one is pretty waist friendly.) You can actually make ice cream using only bananas, without an ice cream maker (one ingredient ice cream).

If you wanted to be really health conscious, nix the oreos and the sugar and add a little honey to taste. Or if you just don't care, use regular Half & Half, it'll work great too.

I would advise eating this the day that you make it, it can get a little hard in the freezer.

Banana Oreo Ice Cream
3 ripe bananas
3/4 (375 ml) Fat-Free Half & Half
1/3 cup of sugar
10 Oreos (or as many as you want)

Puree the bananas and Half & Half together, add sugar to taste (depending on the sweetness of the bananas). Let chill in the refrigerator until you're ready to use it. Pour the mix into your ice cream maker and follow it's instructions for freezing.

Put Oreos in a bag and smash them up into desired crumbliness.
Once the ice cream is firm scoop out of ice cream maker and gently mix in smashed Oreos, cover and place in freezer to set up.

Eat.