This super simple banoffee pie recipe From Teen Baking Bootcamp by Tik Tok star, Matthew Merril is the perfect introduction to creating show-stoppping cakes and bakes for teenagers.

Just one of 60 recipes in his new book, Matthew explains clearly each step for the baking newbie who’s only previous cooking experience may have been pressing buttons on the microwave…

Start off with Easy-Peasy Peanut Butter Cookies―a four-ingredient wonder that has reached more than 1.8 million views on Matthew’s TikTok. And when you’ve really built up your skills, you can master the art of the meringue with Matthew’s Food Network–Winning S’mores Macarons.

Dive into this book and Matthew will help you avoid all the common pitfalls he made as a young baker, leading you down the easy path to self-taught baking.

Here Matthew tells about why he loves this banoffee pie recipe: “When I first learned that a dessert like Banoffee Pie existed, I was desperate to try it. For starters, the name “Banoffee” is a combination of “banana” and “toffee” . . . woah. Originating in the UK, this dessert is similar to a banana cream pie, but made with dulce de leche, adding a whole new depth of flavor. Though each component of a Banoffee Pie is relatively easy to make, preparing a proper dulce de leche sauce can be time consuming, but it is easy and so worth the time: The flavor is unmatched.”

YIELD: One 8-inch (20-cm) pie

Banoffee Pie: Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust:

• 10–12 graham crackers;
• 3 tbsp (45 g) granulated sugar;
• 1 tbsp (14 g) brown sugar;
• 6 tbsp (84 g) butter, melted

NOTE: In the UK, it is common to make the graham cracker crust with their equivalent of graham crackers, called “digestive biscuits.” They are less sweet than graham crackers and can be found in the foreign aisle of many grocery stores. If you can’t get your hands on some digestive biscuits, graham crackers will do the trick.

Filling:

• 1 (14-oz [396-g]) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 bananas
• 250mls whipped cream
• 1 bar of chocolate, for decoration (optional)

Banoffee Pie: Instructions

For the crust, place the graham crackers into a food processor and blend until they are fine crumbs. Measure out 1 1⁄2 cups (150 g) of crumbs and add them to a large bowl along with the white and brown sugars and melted butter. Stir very well, incorporating all of the graham cracker crumbs into the butter, creating a sandy mixture.

Press the graham cracker crust into an 8-inch (20-cm) tart pan with a removable bottom. If you don’t own that piece of equipment, a pie dish will work, but the filling might not reach the top of the crust. Refrigerate the crust for 4 hours while you make the filling.

To make the dulce de leche, bring a large pot of water to a boil on the stove. This is where the recipe gets strange. Remove the wrapper from the sweetened condensed milk can, and then place the can— unopened!—into the pot of boiling water. Then, let it sit in the pot of boiling water for 3 hours, carefully turning it over every hour with tongs and adding water to the pot if a significant amount of water evaporates.

After boiling for 3 hours, let the can sit for 10 minutes before opening; the pressure created from boiling the can could lead to an explosion of sugary goodness. And just like magic, the once-white sweetened condensed milk will have turned into a beautiful golden dulce de leche.

Scoop this dulce de leche into the prepared graham cracker crust, and smooth it out. Cut the bananas into thin slices (the thickness is up to you, just keep the slices consistent in thickness). Sprinkle the bananas on top of the dulce de leche layer.

You can simply dump the whipped cream on the pie and spread it out, then serve, but if you want to be extra fancy, I recommend using a piping bag. For this pie, I fit my piping bag with a large star tip, then make a ring of whipped cream around the border of the pie, just to make the presentation really pop.

To garnish, take a vegetable peeler and use the same motion as you would to peel a potato to “peel” a chocolate bar over the top of the tart. These mini chocolate curls will tie the entire dish together.

Reprinted with permission from Teen Baking Bootcamp by Matthew Merril, Page Street Publishing, Co. 2022. Photo credit: Thomas McGovern