Banoffee Pie

12 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Refrigerate 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Banoffee Pie is a rich and easy dessert with a graham cracker crust, dulce de leche, sliced bananas and a homemade whipped cream topping. 

You may have tried some of our other banana desserts, like our Easy Banana Bread (No Mixer!), Banana Cream Pie or our Chocolate Banana Bread, but I promise you’ve never tried a pie like this.

sliced Banoffee Pie

BANOFFEE PIE

You like bananas, you like toffee, but have you had banoffee pie? The name is literally a mix of the words “banana” and “toffee,” and you will kick yourself for not trying it sooner. This is a no-bake pie that you will want to make again and again because of how easy it is.

Invented was in the 1970s, it has become very popular in a short amount of time. For people who want the natural sugar of a banana with the smooth richness of dulce de leche, this is an absolute must-try and you shouldn’t be intimidated by the layers, they’re all easy to make!

We adapted the original recipe into an easier to make, no less delicious version that you can throw together in a pinch. The great thing about this recipe is that the whole thing only takes as long as the mixtures needs to cool, so you can whip up a gourmet, delicious dessert any night of the week.

HOW TO MAKE BANOFFEE PIE

  • Put a handful of graham crackers in a food processor and blend them in 30 second increments until the chunks are crumb-sized.
  • Mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, ginger and melted butter together until they are very well blended together. You can use a stand mixer or use a plain wooden spoon.
  • Take the whole mixture and press it into the bottom of a cheesecake pan and let it chill in the fridge.
  • Once it is cool, take the pan out of the fridge and pour the dulce de leche over the graham cracker crust.
  • While the filling is cooling, slice up a banana and set the slices over the top of the dulce de leche.
  • Stir cream until soft peaks form and spoon your homemade whipped cream over the bananas.
  • Put the whole thing in the fridge and serve it cold with a side of Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream.

How to make Homemade Dulce de Leche from Condensed Milk:

  1. Remove wrappers from condensed milk cans.
  2. Place on their side in your slow cooker and cover with water (should be 1 inch more water than the height of cans).
  3. Cook on low for 8 hours.
  4. Remove cans with tongs.
  5. Allow cans to cool completely before opening (you risk them exploding if you open while hot, PLEASE exercise caution).
Banoffee Pie on plate

TOPPINGS AND SIDES

  • Caramel: caramel sauce is delicious drizzled over the top of banoffee pie.
  • Sugar: crumble some brown sugar or go buy some confectioner’s sugar to dust the top of the pie with. The effect will make your pie look super classy.
  • Chocolate shavings: take a bar of milk or dark chocolate and gently grate it over your pie. The chocolate shavings look fancy and taste delicious.
  • Pecans: chop pecans and layer them over the bananas on the top. If you have some time on your hands and want your pie to look really dressed up, you can make them into rings around the pie top.

VARIATIONS

  • Digestive biscuits and shortbread: most Americans don’t know what digestive biscuits are, but you absolutely need to try them. They are crunchy, round biscuits that are often eaten with tea and, despite the name, aren’t medicinal at all (people used to think they worked like antacids because they had sodium bicarbonate in them. It’s a shame that they don’t help with heart burn, because they are much tastier than Tums.) Shortbread is a rich, buttery bread that is somehow soft and crunchy at the same time. Take either of these British favorites and use them to make the crust of your banoffee pie instead of graham crackers.
  • Vanilla extract: try mixing a little vanilla extract into the pie filling before you cool it. The richness of the banana and the dulce de leche goes really well with vanilla flavoring.
  • Condensed milk: traditionally, banoffee pie is made by boiling a can of unopened sweetened condensed milk to make toffee. We decided to skip that part and just use dulce de leche, but feel free to try out the original way. Be very, very careful though, because there is a lot that can go wrong with this method.
  • All the bananas: There is nothing to say you shouldn’t double or triple the bananas here. I stick to the classic amount but I’ve also made this with triple the amount and people loved it!

WHERE DID IT COME FROM?

Banoffee pie is a British invention. It was created fairly recently by Nigel Mackenzie and Ian Dowding at a place called The Hungry Monk in East Sussex, England. In 1971, Mackenzie and Dowding were trying to make an American toffee pie recipe that just wasn’t working so they substituted in some bananas and made a crust from biscuit crumbs. Voila! A new pie was born. It became a hit around the world, had a short cameo in the film “Love Actually,” and was apparently Margaret Thatcher’s favorite recipe to bake, according to Wikipedia.

I may secretly love this pie even more because it was in Love Actually. I can’t put words to how much that I love that movie, haha.

HOW LONG WILL IT KEEP?

  • Serve: You shouldn’t leave banoffee pie out for longer than 2 hours before returning to the refrigerator.
  • Store: You can keep pie wrapped in the fridge for up to 3 days.
  • Freeze: Banoffee pie is good frozen for up to 3 months.

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Pin Recipe

Banoffee Pie

Banoffee Pie is a rich and easy dessert with a spiced graham cracker crust, rich dulce de leche, sliced bananas and a creamy homemade whipped cream topping. 
Yield 12 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine British
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 1 cup unsalted butter , melted
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 14 ounces dulce de leche
  • 4 large bananas , sliced 1/2" thick
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 bar chocolate , shaved for garnish

Instructions

  • Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, melted butter, cinnamon and ginger in a large bowl then press into the sides of a 9" springform pan.
  • Place springform pan into the freezer to harden for 15 minutes.
  • Spread the dulce de leche carefully onto the crust then top with sliced bananas gently.
  • Add your heavy cream and powdered sugar to a stand mixer on high speed for 1-2 minutes until you have stiff peaks, then top the bananas gently with your whipped cream.
  • Refrigerate until chilled for at least one hour, but preferably 2 hours.
  • Garnish with shaved chocolate just before serving (you can shave your chocolate bar using a cheese grater).

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 273kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 48mg | Sodium: 73mg | Potassium: 179mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 566IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 1mg
Keyword: Banoffee Pie
Banoffee Pie

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. You can definitely see your skills in the work you write. The world hopes for even more passionate writers like you who are not afraid to say how they believe. Always follow your heart.

  2. We enjoyed Banoffee Pie while visiting Ireland.

    We would like to try the original, using condensed milk. How long should the milk
    boil, not using a slow cooker. I made it when we can home from Ireland, but I
    forgot.

    Thanks

    1. Hi Marguerite,

      What a sweet addition to your trip to Ireland 🙂

      To make Dulce de Leche on the stovetop, you start with a can of condensed milk on it’s side, covered with room temperature water (at least 2 inches above the can).

      Bring to a simmer over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer for 2-3 hours, depending on how light or dark you would like your caramel. Do not let the water level reduce below the can (adding boiling water as necessary).

      Hope this alternative cooking method helps and you can relive those Emerald Isle memories soon 🙂

  3. What a delicious looking dessert! Looks like it came straight from the bakery window! Looking forward to enjoying this tonight!