Rosemary Banoffee Pie by Nadiya

I am probably the only woman who has not been glued over the years to the Great British Bake Off so I missed Nadiya winning. Up until last week I knew nothing about her and then I was driving along and found myself listening to her being interviewed on BBC Radio 4. She was talking about her life, her arranged marriage, winning GBBO and her new TV series with Zoe Ball. I then went into Waterstone’s and saw her new cookbook, Nadiya’s British Food Adventure and found myself leafing through it and salivating over all the recipes. So I returned home with a copy of the cookbook and this last weekend I baked a Rosemary Banoffee Pie for friends of mine – pudding connoisseurs – and they gave me (or rather Nadiya) 19 out of 20 for this pie. I didn’t get the full 20 as they didn’t want to upset their wives! The rosemary takes the sweetness out of the caramel sauce and makes it so different and tasty.

Rosemary Banoffee Pie

Ingredients:
For the base:
250g oaty sweet biscuits or digestives crushed to fine crumbs
100g unsalted butter, melted
For the Rosemary Caramel:
100g unsalted butter
100g molasses sugar
1 x 397g tin of condensed milk
large sprigs of fresh rosemary (approx 10g), leaves removed and roughly chopped
For the filling:
4 small bananas
300ml double cream
2 tablespoons icing sugar
fresh rosemary leaves to decorate

How to prepare:
Grease a 23cm loose-bottomed cake tin and line the base with baking paper

Put the crushed biscuits and the melted butter into a bowl and mix well – the mixture should resemble wet sand.

Put the biscuit mixture into the lined tin and use the back of a spoon to press it into the base and around the sides. Be sure to press down firmly to compact the mixture. Put in the fridge to chill for 1 hour.

To make the rosemary caramel, put the butter and sugar into a non-stick pan and place on a high heat until the sugar into a non-stick pan and place on a high heat until the sugar has dissolved, making sure to stir all the time.

Add the condensed milk and bring to the boil, stirring all the time, then turn the heat down and gently simmer for 1-2 minutes, until the mixture has thickened.

Take off the heat, beat the caramel for a few seconds with an electric hand whisk to make sure it’s smooth, then add the chopped rosemary leaves.

Spread the caramel over the base of the tart and place in the fridge for another hour.

Whip together the cream and icing sugar, using a hand-held mixer, until the cream has thickened to soft peaks.

Place the sliced bananas on top of the caramel, top with the cream and sprinkle with rosemary leaves.

I would strongly recommend that you buy this cookbook as so many recipes look absolutely delicious. Click here to buy