“We dipped into dips and exchanged our stories.
Shared our secrets. Laughed over linguine and bonded over banoffee pie.”
Sometimes you meet another person that you just click with. I'm not talking lover, boyfriend or future husband here. I'm talking friend. A friend you know is going to be come one of your great friends.
This is what happened to Maeve and Stella in Babyville by Jane Green. Maeve instinctively knew Stella was her kind of woman. As Maeve's private life explodes, her gut feelings were proved correct. Stella was there for her and Maeve loves the warmth and intimacy you gain from a good friend.
Maeve and Stella haven’t
had this female warmth in their life for a while, if ever, because they’ve both
been busy with their careers. The closeness of sharing a banoffee pie with Stella
reveals how much the two like each other.
You don’t share a desert with just
anyone. This simple act of bonding,
this simple act of scraping out the toffee and banana together, not worrying if
your spoons collide, says so much about a relationship.
You don’t worry if this woman
thinks you’re a slob or that you’re being greedy. Because this woman, this special friend, is doing
exactly the same thing.
This very act of sharing a desert shows warmth and true friendship.
Banoffee pie, perfect for
sharing with your best female friend.
Makes a generous pie for two – eat straight from the pie dish. Just add two
spoons.
FOR THE BISCUIT BASE
100g
biscuits (hobnobs or digestives)
20g butter
FOR THE CARAMEL SAUCE
125g caster
sugar
2 tbsp
water
70ml double
cream
20g butter
FOR THE CREAM TOPPING
1 banana
100ml
double cream
1 heaped tsp
icing sugar
1 tsp
vanilla extract
EQUIPMENT
Small greased baking dish or pyrex dish (for
two persons), heavy bottomed pan, jug, whisk.
METHOD
- Heat oven
to 180°C/160 Fan. - Bash the
biscuits into crumbs with the end of a rolling pin in a bowl. - Melt the
butter and stir in. - Tip the
buttered biscuit crumbs into the baking dish and press down hard with the back
of a spoon. - Bake in the
oven for ten minutes. - In the
meantime pour the sugar into a heavy bottomed pan and add two tablespoons of
water. Heat gently
until the sugar is dissolved, then turn up high. - After around five minutes it
will start to go brown. As soon as it does so remove from the heat. - Stir in the
butter and cream (gently, it’ll bubble up) and pour into a jug so it stops
cooking. - When the
biscuit base has finished in the oven, remove and allow to cool. - Pour over
the cooled caramel and place in the fridge to set. After an
hour remove and slice the banana over the caramel. - Whip the
cream, add the sugar and vanilla and pour over the top. - Grate some
dark chocolate to finish.
Bon appetite!