Banoffee Pie: as easy as pie

Whoever thought up the old expression 'easy as pie' may well have been referring to the process of making what I believe to be the easiest of all pies to produce, the Banoffee Pie. Not only is it one of the most simple things to make, it tastes so good that people will believe you have slaved away for hours. There is no longer any excuse for you non-bakers to stay out of the kitchen. No kitchen wizardry, nor indeed any gadgets of any kind are required to make this. So get your aprons on and into the kitchen with yer.

Banoffee Pie

Ingredients

1 can condensed milk

250g digestive biscuits or your biscuit of choice (I like hobnobs best)

100g Unsalted butter, softened

2-3 bananas

1 Tblsp lemon juice

300ml thickened cream (cream for whipping)

50g icing (confectioner's) sugar

Method

The day before you make the pie, or indeed longer if you'd prefer, place the can of condensed milk into a pot of cold water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and leave to on a low heat for 3-4 hours. Turn off the heat and allow the can to cool completely before removing from the water. Extra cans of condensed milk can be boiled and stored in the pantry for future use, saving you the hassle of boiling up another can the next time you have a craving for banoffee pie.

[Warning- While this process entails very little effort, do make sure that the can remains submerged under water. If you allow the pot to boil dry, the cans will explode. As a preventative measure, place the can sideways in the pan so that should you be forgetful like me, at least the can will not explode all over the kitchen, but merely inside the pot. Even better idea: set your timer for every half hour to check that there is enough water in the pan and top it up, if necessary.]

The next day, place the biscuits into a plastic bag. Hold the opening of your bag upright to prevent any contents from spilling and, using a rolling pin or other heavy apparatus, bash the biscuits to smithereens. You can certainly use a food processor for this, but frankly, why bother washing up more than you need? Pour the contents of the bag into a small bowl and mix in the softened butter. Press this mixture into a small pie dish, so that it comes all the way up the sides of the dish. Put in the fridge to set for at least an hour.

Open the can of boiled condensed milk and spread it evenly onto the biscuit base. Slice the bananas, sprinkling them with a spritz of lemon juice to prevent them from discolouring, and layer them on top of the luscious thick caramel base. In a medium bowl, or the bowl of a mixer if you'd rather, beat the cream and icing sugar until stiff peaks form. NEVER, and I mean never, walk away from a mixer when you are beating cream; it can turn into butter in the blink of an eye, so watch it closely. I put the cream into a piping bag with a star tip, however, there is absolutely no need for that. Feel free to just plonk the cream on top. It will taste the same either way.

There you have it: a banoffee pie that really is as easy as pie.