Who Are You, Banoffee Pie?

Banoffee pie, which stems from the words banana and toffee, is a rich and gooey British dessert pie whose main ingredients include bananas, toffee, and butter. Its crust may either be made of pastry or crumbled biscuits. The banoffee is a trendy dessert in India, too, following the British rule that was present on the peninsula until 1947. India has adopted many British customs, such as this indulgent dish.

Boil The Toffee

The toffee, or dulce de leche, is made by boiling unopened cans of condensed milk for 2 to 3 hours. Other versions of this pie may call for chocolate, coffee, or both. Other add-ons include salted caramel, peanut buttercream or whipped cream, lemon juice, chocolate shavings, and pecans; however, after trying most interpretations, we stick with the original.

A Pie is Born

The pie was developed by Nigel MacKenzie (proprietor of The Hungry Monk Restaurant, East Sussex) and chef Ian Dowding in 1971. The pair had been trying to improve an unreliable recipe for Blums Coffee Toffee Pie. After several attempts using various fruits, MacKenzie suggested they use bananas instead. As suggested by MacKenzie, they named their creation Banoffi Pie, and it quickly became popular among customers. In 1974, the recipe was included in The Deeper Secrets of the Hungry Monk. It was later reprinted in the cookbook In Heaven with The Hungry Monk (1997).

Let’s Go Global

Many restaurants in other parts of the world soon began to serve banoffee pies using the original recipe. In 1984, several supermarkets began selling the dessert, claiming it was an American pie. This spurred Nigel MacKenzie to come out and offer 10,000 to anyone who could refute their claim as the original creators of the pie. Marks and Spencer, one of the supermarket chains that had been selling these pies, later apologized for making an erroneous claim.