As people adjust to cooking at home, baking has seen a boom in popularity, with demand for baking ingredients having soared. Relaunched towards the end of 2019 with a new Head Chef Tom Booton at the helm, The Grill at The Dorchester was finally on its way to becoming a destination restaurant before the government’s enforced lockdown was imposed. Alongside a repertoire of expertly prepared grill classics with contemporary twists, the restaurant has also become somewhat renowned for its statement ‘Pudding Bar’ (specifically the signature ‘Double Decker’ dessert). While the Double Decker recipe remains a secret, Tom Booton has shared the recipe for his ‘at home’ banoffee pie – simple to make at home; easy to scale up or down, and using few ingredients, without rarities such as flour or eggs.
Makes one banoffee pie
For the base
Digestive biscuits, 20
Butter, 150g
For the filling
Butter, 150g
Light brown sugar, 150g
Condensed milk (full fat), 2 tins
Bananas
For the Chantilly
Double cream, 500g
Icing sugar, 50g
Chocolate, frozen and grated
“Find a large serving dish for this recipe. Spread two sheets of cling film on top of each other on your work bench and wipe them smooth together. (TOP TIP: add a little bit of water into your mould and spin it around and remove the liquid, do not dry it). Add the cling film into the mould nice and tightly into the corners. Then add a square of baking paper into the bottom(just to prevent any cling film ripping into the pie).
“To make the base, add the biscuits into a bag and smash nicely with a rolling pin to get a fine crush. Melt the butter over a low heat and add in the biscuits, stir well and then transfer into the mould and push down hard into all the corners (get this as flat and even as you can). Place in the fridge for min 1 ½ hours.
“To make the filling, heat the butter and sugar together over a low heat, then add in the condensed milk and bring to boil, keep stirring it as it will catch very easily until it gets to dark-ish brown, don’t take it too far! (This will be very hot so don’t touch it! I know it looks double tasty!)When ready transfer this on top of the biscuit base in the fridge, then carefully place back in the fridge and leave for another 1 ½ hours.
“To make the Chantilly, add the cream and icing sugar together and whisk until light soft peaks, don’t overdo it, we don’t want butter! Remember can always add not take away!
“Cut up the bananas as you wish and place them nicely on top of your pie. Once the bananas are on top then add the Chantilly on nice and smooth, place back into the fridge for 15 to 20 mins.
“Then the hard bit, trying to take it out of the mould without tearing it! Be brave. When you have the bad boy out, grate on top the chocolate you froze before and be generous! Then it is ready to serve.”
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