Banoffee Pie (though maybe it should be called Mackenzie Pie)
This is a sumptuous mega calorie pudding that you eat in peril of your waist line. Layers of biscuit crunchiness covered with toffee heaven and topped off with vegan whipped cream. But even so, this recipe is much less calorific and sickly than it's dairy counterparts - which could have you visiting your cardiologist in short order...….
Equipment
- 8 inch loose bottom cake tin - Silverwood are a great brand
- Nutribullet or blender
- Digital scales
- medium sized bowl
- electric whisk
- access to a freezer
Ingredients
For the Base:
- 150 g Walnuts/Pecans – pecans are best - but more expensive but less bitter – 1462Kcal
- 150 g Pitted Dates normal i.e. not soft/ready to eat – 514Kcal
- 25 gm hemp seeds hulled – 140 Kcal – (or omit and use 100g biscuits)
- 75 g Hobnobs/Digestive/ginger nuts or similar biscuits 92 Kcal
For the Filling:
- 300 g Soft Dates pitted – I used deglet nour from Waitrose –– 891Kcal
- 200 g Coconut Cream usually comes in a 250ml mini cardboard carton – 438Kcal
- 80 g Almond Butter –– 614Kcal – I used pip&nut almond spread from Holland & Barrat
- 15 g molasses 29 Kcal – could possibly use a little more.
- 15 g hulled hemp seeds
For the Topping
- 2 Bananas sliced 210
- 200 g of solid part of full-fat coconut milk kept in fridge overnight & scooped out – 509Kcal (2/3 of solid part)
- 50 g of coconut cream this will be left over if you use a 250ml carton of coconut cream 110Kcal
- 120 gm cashews – soaked overnight 718 Kcal
- 2 Teaspoons vanilla essence/vanilla bean paste
- Vegan Dark Chocolate or Raw Chocolate grated or cocoa powder.
Instructions
Making the biscuit base
- Add the pecans/walnuts, pitted harder dates, biscuits & hemp seeds to the food processor and process it.
- It will first be crumbly and then gradually will become doughy and start to stick together as the nuts release their oils. Process until it reaches this sticky dough stage.
- Transfer this mixture to an 8inch loose bottom cake tin.
- Spread out evenly with a fork, and then when evenly spread, gradually press down firmly with the back of a serving spoon. Place into the freezer to set while you make the toffee filling.
Making the filling
- To make the date caramel mixture a bit easier, first microwave the ready to eat dates for 30-40 seconds on full power, this will soften them up and make them easier to process. If you don’t have a microwave you can skip this step but it will just take a little longer.
- Add the dates & hemp seeds to the food processor and process it.
- It will first form a giant ball of toffee and then will gradually break up and stick to the sides of the food processor. Keep processing, until the giant ball is mostly broken up.
- Heat just 200g (from the 250g packet) of the coconut cream in the microwave for 30 seconds and then add gradually while the food processor is running. You want a very creamy date/caramel texture here. Thick is good, but you want it to be smooth and creamy.
- Add in the almond butter & molasses and process again until well mixed in. You may need to stop to scrape it off the sides with a spatula to get it evenly mixed.
- Remove the blade scraping the “toffee" mixture off, and spread the date/caramel filling out over the walnut/date crust and smooth it out into an even layer – a fork can be useful here.
- Return to the freezer to set.
Making the topping
- To make your whipped cream, you need to have had a can of coconut cream chilling in a very cool fridge overnight at least.
- Remove the chilled can from the fridge – the fatty part will be quite solid. Open it and you’ll see the cream has risen to the top and set. Leaving the watery part behind. Scoop out 200g of this cream section into a medium sized bowl and whisk with an electric hand whisk. Start at slow speed and then gradually increase speed until the cream is whipped – it doesn’t take very long – don’t overwhip it.
- Meanwhile put in a blender or nutribullet the drained soaked cashews, vanilla essence, and the rest of the coconut cream – and blend until really smooth. When done transfer to the bowl/food processor.
- Gently combine this with the whipped coconut milk using the mixer on slow speed and continue mixing briefly until smooth. Put it in the fridge or freezer.
- Slice the bananas into ¼ inch ½ cm slices and arrange on top of the toffee layer.
- Spread the cream mixture over the toffee mixture and finally grate the chocolate on top.
Notes
• Use Sainsbury’s full fat coconut milk or similar – not KC brand or other cheaper alternative – as it’s not solid enough.
• Slice your bananas fairly thickly – not too thin.
• Use all the bananas as a single layer of banana on top of the caramel layer almost completely covering the toffee base. Discard or eat any left over.
• This freezes very well, so you can make it in advance and just defrost when you want it.
• You can also use Flora Whipping cream from Bookers C&C, which is very close to the original whipped cream version, but that cannot be frozen where as the alternative used here can successfully be frozen.
• Slice your bananas fairly thickly – not too thin.
• Use all the bananas as a single layer of banana on top of the caramel layer almost completely covering the toffee base. Discard or eat any left over.
• This freezes very well, so you can make it in advance and just defrost when you want it.
• You can also use Flora Whipping cream from Bookers C&C, which is very close to the original whipped cream version, but that cannot be frozen where as the alternative used here can successfully be frozen.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!