50 Things You Can Make in Your Microwave: Banoffee Pie

Hannah's Dorm Room Banoffee Pie
Preparation time: 30-45 minutes, plus time for chilling



A medley of bananas and caramel, cradled by a graham cracker crust and finished with fresh whipped cream, nothing is more satisfying than coming home to your own individual serving of Banoffee Pie. Created in the seventies at The Hungry Monk restaurant, it has become increasingly popular here in Manila in the past year or two.

I personally love Banoffee Pie, regardless of the warning that comes on most Banoffee Pie recipes that read "milk cans may explode", as the toffee is traditionally made by cooking cans of condensed milk in pots of simmering water. This has pushed me to come up with any and all ways of getting the sweet and sticky caramel without fear of having to wipe down my toffee covered kitchen.

While I found less dangerous methods on the internet, one using an oven to cook the toffee and the other suggesting boiling the condensed milk in a saucepan, these methods were not as inspired as using a microwave to cook the toffee! I'm thinking people in apartments, in dorm rooms, or people who share common kitchens, who only have a fridge and a microwave, could actually make this dessert! In the hopes that I will soon be making this in the dorm room of a certain great medical school campus, I give you:

Hannah's Dorm Room Banoffee Pie

Ingredients:

• 250g graham crackers
• 125g butter
• 4 bananas
• 1 400ml canned condensed milk
• clotted cream or your favorite whipped topping

1. Crush the graham crackers. I find that the easiest way to do this is to use a large wooden mortar and pestle, but a blunt heavy object and the graham crackers in a ziplock bag does pretty well.
   
2. Place the butter in a microwaveable bowl (i would recommend the biggest bowl you have, you will thank me later) and heat it up in the microwave until it is melted, this should take from 10-15 seconds. Do not worry if there are still some lumps of unmelted butter, just give it a stir and it will eventually melt.
3. Combine the crushed graham crackers and melted butter to form a sandy biscuit base, and press it in to the container you would like to use. Put it in the refrigerator to firm up.
   
4. Using the same microwaveable bowl you used to melt the butter (no need to wash the bowl!) pour the condensed milk into the bowl and place it in the microwave. Be careful not to overfill the bowl, it should be at most only half filled.
   
5. Now this is the slightly tricky part, and you can't leave your microwave alone at this point because cooking time varies with the type of microwave you have. Have your setting on either low or medium and start the microwave. When you notice that the milk has begun to expand much like lava would turn off the microwave, take out the bowl and mix the milk until it has flattened out again. Do not allow the expanded milk to collapse by itself, because you will burn the milk. Keep repeating this until you get your preferred shade of caramel. Also be careful not to overcook the milk, you will notice that it is overcooked when the caramel refuses to smoothen out anymore (then you have caramel candy! but that's not really what we want isn't it?)
   
6. When the caramel is cooked, pour it into the refrigerated graham cracker crusts and refrigerate again. (You can go off and do whatever now)
7. When you are ready to eat, cut up the bananas how you like them, place them on top of the graham cracker-toffee base, and finish with either whipped product (the canister you shake and spray) or whipped cream. I like to use clotted cream because its already thick right out of the container.
8. Enjoy!
   

Note: I like to keep the crushed graham cracker, melted butter, and toffee in separate containers in the fridge so I can just assemble it throughout the week for when I have an especially bad day.