Kelly Brisson / The BUZZ
By Kelly Brisson
There are bananas all over our tiny kitchen.
Under ripe, edibly ripe, and far, far past their prime. They are everywhere.
Typically, I’ll make a loaf or two of banana bread, the variety depending on what happens to be in the pantry, to help keep the steady influx of bananas at bay. But there are only so many loaves of banana bread one can stomach before boredom sets in.
This week, tired of my usual, go-to banana recipes, I thought it might be time to try something different.
I recalled trying a banoffee pie for the first time at Ottawa’s Allium restaurant and falling madly in love with its gooey, sticky, toffee and banana filling. Why not give this simple, but entirely satisfying treat a go at home? With a slight twist, of course. Taking out the pie crust makes this even easier to make than it already was.
Layers of banana puree, gooey dulce de leche, cinnamon, whipped cream and ground up graham cracker piled high in a glass makes for a fun dessert to eat and a beautiful dish to look at.
The recipe
Makes four (1.5 cup) servings
Banana puree:
• 3 large, ripe bananas
• 1 tsp. lime juice
• 2 tsp. sugar
• pinch of nutmeg
Puree above ingredients in a food processor until smooth.
Graham cracker crumble:
• 1 1/2 cups ground graham crackers
(approx. 3/4 sleeve of cookies)
• 1 tbsp. butter, melted
Stir the ground graham crackers and melted butter together. It will still be slightly dry, which is how it should be.
Cinnamon whipped cream:
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Pour the cream and cinnamon into a medium sized bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer) and beat with electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
Dulce de Leche:
• 2 cans sweetened condensed milk
• sea salt
Preheat oven to 425 F.
Pour the cans of milk and a few flecks of sea salt into a small oven-proof dish such as a pie plate. Seal the dish very tightly with foil (I use two layers).
Place in a larger oven-proof dish and fill the larger dish with enough water to come halfway up the first. This is a water bath and will help the dulce de leche cook evenly.
Place in the oven for 1.5-2 hours or until condensed milk has caramelized and turned a golden caramel colour. Be sure to keep refilling the water to halfway up the smaller dish.
Let dulce de leche cool and whisk until smooth.
Assembly:
In a glass parfait dish or glass of your choice, layer a good portion of dulce de leche, whipped cream, a thin layer of graham cracker crumble and a thick layer of banana puree. Repeat, finishing with banana and a blob, which is the technical term, of whipped cream.
Chill until ready to serve. This can be made up to 24 hours in advance.
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