Banoffee pies

These pies are a banoffee lover's delight. Make sure that you use really ripe bananas for a "true" banana flavour.

Ingredients

1	Banana, very ripe (Main)
½	Lemons, juiced
125 g	Unsalted butter, or vegetable shortening, softened
200 g	Caster sugar
340 g	Self raising flour
1	Egg
1 tsp	Baking powder
½ tsp	Salt
250 ml	Sour cream
100 ml	Water, hot not boiling

Caramel Bananas

50 g	Unsalted butter
2 Tbsp	Golden syrup (Main)
2 Tbsp	Double cream
2 Tbsp	Soft brown sugar
2	Bananas, ripe, sliced

Banana Cream

1	Banana, ripe, mashed with the lemon juice
12	Banana chips
300 g	Cream, clotted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. To make the pies, mash the banana with the lemon juice in a bowl using a fork.
2. Cream together the butter and caster sugar in a mixing bowl for 2-3 minutes using an electric hand-held mixer, until light and creamy.
3. Add the mashed banana and egg and mix again. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and add the salt and sour cream.
4. Whisk again until everything is incorporated. Add the hot water and whisk into the mixture.
5. Put a large spoonful of mixture in each hole in the prepared tins (two 12-hole whoopie pie tins, greased or you can pipe them on to baking sheets in the same manner as macarons).
6. Leave to stand for 10 minutes then bake each tin in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes.
7. Remove the pies from the oven, let cool slightly then turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the caramel bananas

1. Gently heat the golden syrup, butter and brown sugar in a saucepan until the sugar has dissolved and you have a smooth caramel sauce.
2. Slowly pour in the double cream and stir until it is incorporated then remove from the heat and allow to cool. When cooled, remove a little sauce and reserve for decoration.
3. Add the banana slices to the saucepan and toss gently using a spoon to ensure the banana slices are well coated.

To make the banana cream

1. Fold the mashed banana into the clotted cream. Spoon some on to 12 of the pie halves, reserving enough to use as a topping.
2. Add a spoonful of caramel bananas and cover with the remaining pie halves.
3. Put a spoonful of the banana cream on top of each pie, add a dried banana chip and a drizzle of the reserved caramel sauce.