Banana Toffee Cream Pie

From what I can tell this is pretty similar to a 'traditional' banana cream pie, except with the addition of toffee chocolate bits on top (an AWESOME idea I can unfortunately not take credit for) and the use of sweetened condensed milk to create a caramel filling.  I think I'm starting to realize, if a recipe has sweetened condensed milk in it, it's a good bet it's going to be delicious.  This pie, while pretty simple to make, does take a little while, due to having to bake the caramel filling for an hour or so, as well as having to let it cool before applying the whip cream.

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine crushed graham crackers, granulated sugar and melted butter; mix well. Firmly press crumb mixture evenly over the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate.  I used a spring form pan instead of a pie plate, since I thought I had one but I must have left it somewhere.  I was originally going to use a 9" cake pan, but I'm glad I didn't, since this ended up being a very deep pie and I don't think the cake pan could have handled it. Bake crust at 350 degrees F for 7-9 minutes. Remove pie plate from oven and allow crust to cool.

 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Pour sweetened condensed milk into another 9-inch pie plate. Cover entire pie plate including top in aluminum foil.  Using a jelly roll pan or broiler pan, fill pan with about 1/4-inch of water, then set foil-wrapped pie plate in center of pan (to create a water bath) and place in a preheated 425 degree F oven.  Check on it ever half hour or so to see if you need to add more water.

 

Bake for approximately 1 hour and 20-30 minutes, or until condensed milk is thick and caramel colored and looks something like this. When done, remove pan from oven, remove foil from pie plate, and set aside to cool slightly. 

While the carmel filling is cooling, slice the bananas into thin slices and layer over crust.   Thin slices work best, approximately 1/8". 

Evenly pour or gently spread caramelized milk over bananas. Cool at least 30 minutes, up to 1 hour. Try to get it evenly over the pie when you're pouring it, it gets kind of hard to spread around once the bananas are mixed in. 

Using an electric mixer, beat heavy whipping cream until foamy; gradually add powdered sugar, beating until soft peaks form. Spread whipped cream over caramel layer. Top with a generous sprinkling of caramel chocolate bits.  I used a chocolate bar with toffee bits already embedded in it, but you could probably use any combination of the two. Carefully wrap the pie with plastic wrap (so as not to smash the pie) and place in the refrigerator to chill at least 3 hours before serving.

Banana Toffee Cream Pie

• 1 (approximately 5 ounce) packet graham crackers, crushed (about 1 & 2/3 cups in total)
• 1/4 granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup chocolate with toffee in it, or any other toffee-chocolate food you wish.

adapted from: A Bloggable Life