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OK, this isn’t exactly a dessert that you can take as a snack on a walk. It won’t travel in a pocket. It won’t even travel well in a picnic hamper. So I stand accused of going off topic (“recipes for walkers”). My defence? Well (your honour), us outdoorsy types are often cooking and baking for outdoorsy entertaining this time of year and need a good bank of recipes for that too. This is not destined for the book. I do recognise that the defence is weak. But the recipe is not. It’s glorious. It’s easy and never, ever fails to delight. It therefore has a place on this blog. It’s also another great way to use up spotty bananas (please also see Banoffee Muffins) Don’t think about the calories, it’s a very, very big number. Just enjoy it occasionally and then go for a long walk.
We have been walking on the beach a lot in this amazing weather and Mango (not naturally a “water dog”) has overcome her fear of the breakers and learned to swim. As long as she has someone in the water with her (her children on their boogie boards are her favourite) she splashes about happily. I couldn’t resist including a beach photo of her in the gallery. Isn’t she beautiful?
Back to the recipe:
I like using dark chocolate digestives as the slight bitterness off- sets the sweetness of the caramel. If you have ordinary digestives, you can always melt a few squares of bitter, dark chocolate with the butter before mixing in the biscuit crumbs. The effect will be the same. I know there are recipes that boil the tin of condensed milk and use that as toffee and you can even buy tins of caramel. These save about 3 minutes and are honestly not as tasty so I advise to sticking with this original method.
I make this recipe up to the end of step 6 the night before I need it. I then complete the other steps just before serving. This makes an impressive dessert feel effortless.
Ingredients
For the base:
250g dark chocolate digestive biscuits
100g unsalted butter
For the caramel:
100g dark brown soft sugar
100g unsalted butter
397g tin of Condensed Milk
For the top layer:
4 ripe bananas
300ml whipping cream
2/3 squares of milk chocolate grated
Tin
20cm, loose bottomed cake tin, lightly greased
Method
1. Place the biscuits in a sealable bag. Bash them with the rolling pin until they are crushed.
2. In a saucepan, melt the 100g of butter for the base. Take it off the heat and pour in the biscuit crumbs. Stir well and then tip them into the prepared tin.
3. Use a metal spoon to press the base into the tin to form a flat layer. Press the mixture a little way up the sides of the tin to give the pie crust edges.
4. Chill the base in the fridge for a few minutes whilst you make the caramel.
5. Put the ingredients for the caramel into a medium sized, heavy bottomed saucepan. Heat over a low heat, stirring all the time until the butter and sugar have melted. Let the caramel bubble gently for about 1 minute, stirring continuously so that it doesn’t stick on the bottom of the pan.
6. Pour the caramel layer into the base. Allow to cool and then refrigerate for at least one hour. I usually leave it overnight at this stage and then complete the remaining steps just before serving the dessert.
7. Gently push the pie from the tin and place onto a serving plate/ dish.
8. Whip the cream until it is thick but still fairly soft. Slice the bananas and then fold half of them into the cream. Spoon the mixture over the caramel layer.
9. Arrange the remaining banana slices over the top and decorate with grated milk chocolate.
ScrummyWalks 