the banoffee pie that hijacked my Finnish dinner

A couple of weeks ago, we went to that Finnish pop-up restaurant, Hel Yes, and it inspired me to throw a Finnish meal together. It wasn’t like I was going to spear a reindeer and forage for lingonberries, but try my very darn-est I did. I browsed through my Moomins Cookbook (because every novice Finn cook must start with Moomins simple instructions) and came up with this pleb menu:

No starter because I’m a pleb
Meat & macaroni bake, served with beetroot salad
Apple pie for dessert

But then, somewhere along the line, my apple pie plans were foiled by Panu bugging me to make a banoffee pie instead, but that’s not all bad

The beetroot salad was a bit of a no brainer because I’d made this before, using Panu’s mum’s recipe. It’s the easiest salad ever to make but be warned the resulting RSI from chopping up 3 carrots, 8 beetroot and about 6 gherkins into teeny tiny cubes. Oh, and I topped the salad with dill this time, which is what any good Finnish person would do

The Moomins meat & macaroni bake is a pretty traditional Finnish recipe, mixing beef mince, onion and garlic with a delicious egg and milk mixture, paprika, all spice and dill. Chuck the whole thing in the oven and it comes out gorgeously brown!

Top it with cheese or breadcrumbs and nom nom nom nom nom!

The innards of the macaroni bake isn’t really the prettiest thing you’ll see, but look at the creamy goodness. Taste wise, I was ever so tempted to add more something to the simple recipe, like more spice or sauce or whatever, but I appreciate that this is how the Finns do it and this is how I shall leave it!

Now, moving onto the culprit that hijacked my Finnish meal. The Banoffee Pie.

“Banoffee” because it’s made of toffee and banana, but there’s cream too, so shouldn’t it be creamanoffee? Yes, yes it should. But it isn’t.

I blatantly stole this recipe directly from the Nestlé site but WARNING! The site also tells you how many calories are in each slice of this holy-mother-of-EVIL pie and trust me, none of you actually want to know this information.

Ok ok I’m gonna tell you. But look away if you don’t want to know!

This one tiny slice of pie has more calories than a Big Mac. 499 calories per slice to be precise. FML I ate three slices.

But how could I not? It is sooooooo fracking delicious, the gooey toffee mushed up against the butter-soaked biscuit base and all that cream! and banana! and as if we weren’t fat enough, topped off with chocolate! Wait, at least the banana is healthy, right? Right.

Anyway the creamanoffee pie totally hijacked my Finnish dinner. I’m still going to try the apple pie out of the Moomins cookbook though, so stay tuned for that! For now, if you feel so inclined to exceed your daily recommended calorie intake in one sitting, feel free to follow the recipe below to glutton hell…

ps. recipe for beetroot salad can be found here.

pps. the Moomins cookbook is awesome fun, with loads of simple recipes for kids.

ppps. a Big Mac has 490 calories.

pppps. Charmaine also just gave me The Scandinavian Cookbook like yesterday so lots more Scandi treats to come!

Banoffee pie (from Nestlé)
Base: 100 grams butter, melted 250 grams digestive biscuits Filling: 100 grams butter 100 grams soft dark brown sugar 397 grams can of Carnation Condensed milk Topping: 4 small bananas 300mL double cream, whipped grated chocolate
To make the base, process the biscuits into fine crumbs then tip into a bowl. Stir in the melted butter. Press the mixture into the base and about 4cm (1½in) up the sides of the tin. Chill the base while you make the filling. To make the filling, place the butter and sugar into a non–stick saucepan over a low heat, stirring until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Add the condensed milk and bring gently to the boil, stirring continuously to make the caramel. Spread the filling over the biscuit base, let cool, then leave to chill for about 1 hour, until firm. I left it overnight. To serve, remove the pie from the tin and place on a serving plate. Slice the bananas and fold half of them into the whipped cream and spoon over the toffee base. Decorate with the remaining bananas and finish with the grated chocolate.
Serves 12 (well… this is relative, isn’t it?)

Banoffee pie (from Nestlé)

Base:
100 grams butter, melted
250 grams digestive biscuits

Filling:
100 grams butter
100 grams soft dark brown sugar
397 grams can of Carnation Condensed milk

Topping:
4 small bananas
300mL double cream, whipped
grated chocolate

To make the base, process the biscuits into fine crumbs then tip into a bowl. Stir in the melted butter.
Press the mixture into the base and about 4cm (1½in) up the sides of the tin. Chill the base while you make the filling.
To make the filling, place the butter and sugar into a non–stick saucepan over a low heat, stirring until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves.
Add the condensed milk and bring gently to the boil, stirring continuously to make the caramel.
Spread the filling over the biscuit base, let cool, then leave to chill for about 1 hour, until firm. I left it overnight.
To serve, remove the pie from the tin and place on a serving plate. Slice the bananas and fold half of them into the whipped cream and spoon over the toffee base.
Decorate with the remaining bananas and finish with the grated chocolate.

Serves 12 (well… this is relative, isn’t it?)

Meat & macaroni bake
I followed the Moomins recipe but multiplied by 1.5 Filling: 150 grams macaroni 300 grams minced beef 1 onion, diced 2 cloves garlic, sliced a knob of butter Egg milk: 3 eggs 500 mL milk 1 teaspoon salt 1.5 teaspoon paprika pinch of pepper pinch of ground all spice dill Topping: Breadcrumbs or grated cheese
Place the macaroni in boiling water and cook without a lid for 10 minutes. Strain and discard the cooking water. Heat the oven to 200°C/390°F. In a frying pan, brown the minced beef, garlic and onion. Add the cooked mince mix to the macaroni. Grease an oven dish. Mix the meat and the macaroni and place in the dish. Prepare the egg milk by whisking all the ingredients together. Pour the mixture into the oven dish so that it covers the mince and macaroni. Bake in oven for around 30-45 minutes. Sprinkle breadcrumbs or grated cheese over the top a few minutes before removing it from the oven.
Serves 6.

Meat & macaroni bake

I followed the Moomins recipe but multiplied by 1.5

Filling:
150 grams macaroni
300 grams minced beef
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
a knob of butter

Egg milk:
3 eggs
500 mL milk
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoon paprika
pinch of pepper
pinch of ground all spice
dill

Topping:
Breadcrumbs or grated cheese

Place the macaroni in boiling water and cook without a lid for 10 minutes. Strain and discard the cooking water. Heat the oven to 200°C/390°F.
In a frying pan, brown the minced beef, garlic and onion. Add the cooked mince mix to the macaroni.
Grease an oven dish. Mix the meat and the macaroni and place in the dish.
Prepare the egg milk by whisking all the ingredients together. Pour the mixture into the oven dish so that it covers the mince and macaroni.
Bake in oven for around 30-45 minutes.
Sprinkle breadcrumbs or grated cheese over the top a few minutes before removing it from the oven.

Serves 6.

the banoffee pie that hijacked my Finnish dinner

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