Boston Banoffee Pie To Die For

I don't know about you, but I've always been rather suspicious of "old wives tales". Don't tell me my baby is a girl because you put a gold ring on a string and twirled it around, I don't go for that sort of thing. But, some of these funny little stories I'm willing to try. If there could be some truth in it, something scientific. When my husband brought home green bananas for his birthday banoffee pie I knew I had to do everything I could to ripen them before the next day. If you live in Australia, you will know that we're having banana price issues, and just to buy one almost breaks the bank. Green ones were the only available, so I found myself a brown paper bag, a tomato and crossed my fingers. The bananas and the tomato went into the bag and I sealed it.
Dare I open the bag and be seriously disappointed?
Yellow bananas!
Gladly I found out the scientific reasoning for their ripening. Fruit produces a gas called ethylene which is a ripening hormone. When an unripe fruit is left with ripened fruit, the hormone also affects the unripe fruit and speeds up the yellowing process. So the banoffee pie went ahead and the bananas were lovely! (24 hours is recommended for ripening in the bag, and a paper bag is essential as the gasses escape plastic bags apparently.)
This pie is absolutely decadent. Shortbread pastry crust topped with bananas, thick caramel toffee and whipped cream, sprinkled with chocolate shavings and more sliced banana. A real feast for the senses!

 

BOSTON BANOFFEE PIE (adapted from "500 Budget Recipes")

PASTRY:
1 1/4 cups plain flour
115g (1/2 cup) diced butter
1/4 cup caster sugar

FILLING:
115g (1/2 cup) diced butter
200g sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup muscovado (brown) sugar
2 tbsp. golden syrup

TO DECORATE:
3 ripe bananas
250ml cream, whipped
50g chocolate to decorate
1/4 cup lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 160C. To make the pastry, place flour and butter together in a bowl and process with hands until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix through the caster sugar to form a soft, pliable dough. Press the dough into a 20cm flan tin and bake for 30 minutes or until golden. Remove from heat and sit to cool.
To make the filling, place the butter in a saucepan with the condensed milk, brown sugar and syrup. Heat gently, stirring, until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.

Bring to a gentle boil and cook for 7-10 minutes, stirring continuously, until the filling thickens and turns a light caramel colour. Cut up two of the bananas into thin slices and arrange as desired over the base of the pastry case. Pour the hot caramel over the top of the bananas and leave until completely cold and set.
To decorate, cut up the last banana into slices and sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent discolouration. Arrange them as desired in the centre of the pie and cover in piped whipped cream and curled or grated chocolate. Bon Appitit!