8.8.12

Baking Club Challenge 3-Dessert

This is the second part after my post about the pie that I made for dinner with Becca and... Well Alex did the dishes. So this dessert was good, but very annoying. Becca and I made the pastry according to the recipe from Always Order Dessert and it kinda turned out like a pancake. A very yummy pastry pancake, but nonetheless, not able to be used! We think it's because the pie tin that we used has quite high sides and the pastry didn't go all the way up AND the recipe didn't say to bake it blind, so I went against my instincts but... Bad move. Pancake. Then I thought we should double the recipe, that would solve all of our problems. The only thing is, the pastry is very short and needs to be rested in the fridge for at least an hour and even then, handled very quickly. I didn't realise this and the pastry all fell apart in my hands and I got very frustrated and it was nearly 9.30 so... Scrapped the idea of having dessert that night (we were all really full from the other pie anyway!) and I put the pastry, the ganache and the caramel in the fridge to wait for another day. I finally got around to using them, and it actually went very well! It tastes divine, I think the ganache adds a nice, slightly different flavour. Also, chocolate. You know. Can't go past chocolate. So if you're like Keira Knightley from Love Actually (great movie!) and have a "terrible taste in pie" then give this one a go!


Banoffee Pie

Ingredients:
1 (395g) can condensed milk

1 cup plain flour
1/3 cup icing sugar
Pinch of salt
1t cinnamon
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small cubes

1/4 cup cream
1/4 cup chocolate chips

2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup cream
Grated chocolate, for decoration

Directions:
Fill a large and deep pot with water and place the can of condensed milk at the bottom. Make sure the water covers the can by at least 8cm (preferably more). Bring the water to a boil, then lower to a rapid simmer. Let boil for 2 hours, adding more water every 15-20 minutes to keep the water level at least 8cm above the can. It's really important that you keep the water at this level, because if it gets too low, the can could explode. Kinda dangerous. But it's pretty easy, you just have to keep your eye on it. Once the caramel is ready, pour it into the baked tart crust and spread evenly. Drizzle the chocolate ganache over the caramel in the crust, using a spoon to swirl it in. Slice the banana into 2cm pieces and spread on top of the caramel and chocolate, pressing in slightly. Whip the remaining cream and 2T icing sugar until it forms stiff peaks. Spread over the pie and sprinkle over grated chocolate or drizzle on any remaining chocolate ganache. Or both if you want! Serve immediately or let chill. Store leftovers wrapped in gladwrap in the refrigerator.

Pastry:
Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a 18-20cm pie tin well, making sure to grease all of the crevices. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and butter in a food processor until it forms coarse crumbs. Then add 1T iced water until it just comes together. Add more if needed, but be careful not to make it too damp. Take the dough out of the food processor and knead it gently into a ball. Then cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Working quickly, knead the dough a little to make it pliable and then, on a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out until the circle is big enough to line the bottom and edges of your pie tin. You can either roll the pastry onto your rolling pin and place it over the pie tin, or just pick it up really quickly and plonk it on. I like that option. Then press the pastry into the tin, making sure that every crevice is pressed in and using excess dough to fill any gaps. Trim the excess. Use a fork to poke holes in the bottom of the tart and place in freezer to chill for 15 minutes (apparently this will prevent shrinking, see if it works for you...). Bake blind for 15 minutes, then remove the baking weights and cook for a further 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool at room temperature.

Chocolate Ganache:
I tend to do this in the microwave, just because I've been doing it for years and it's easy, but you can do it on the stove too. In the microwave: heat the chocolate chips in a mug on 500W for 3 minutes, then add the cream and heat for a further minute. Then stir until smooth. Stovetop: Heat the cream until it just starts to boil and then pour over the chocolate chips and stir until smooth.

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