thanksgiving - it's pie time

thanksgiving is done and dusted for another year and as i have for the last two years, i put my pies up for sale in the lead up. it never ceases to amaze me that people want to buy them, but this year i managed to sell twelve pumpkin and five banoffee pies! including a mini banoffee for my friend hayley who is stuck in a house with no one else who likes banoffee... poor girl

and by request - a gluten free pumpkin pie! i must admit, it made me incredibly nervous as i didn't know how well it would come out, but although the base is a lot lighter than usual, it looks great and didn't crumble. i'd say that's a win. i can't wait to hear back on how it tasted.

well, the production line can be shelved until next year. i did it! maybe one day i can bake to make money more than once a year, but only time will tell. let's see how we go haha

baby shower banoffee

my amazing beautician is heading off on maternity leave and i am going to be left devastated as i don't only love her skills, i love her for who she is. we are born just a few days apart and share so many loves in life... we constantly joke about our overachieving ways, the fact that we allow everyone to treat us like crap and then smile and keep going and our inability to let anyone help us with anything. so imagine my delight when she allowed me to make a banoffee pie for her baby shower! i was so thrilled - and even more so when i saw pics of it proudly on display in her photo album from the day. rach i love you to pieces and will be counting the days until you're back on board! until then i'll just spam you with terrible harry potter and anxiety memes. hahaha! ❤

 

it's pie time!

pie season is over for me for another year - busting last years number out of the park, with 13 pumpkin pies - then another 4 banoffee pies on top of that.

i loved making them and was sure to spread it over a few days to be sure it was going to stress me out - it was perfect, with 4 being the most i did in one day.

i also was super lucky, with friends who tipped me off that costco had the double sized cans of pumpkin cheap, so i have already stocked up for next year!

pies were yet again a success and i am so glad for the push i was given last year to actually bake to sell them, as it's been amazing for me! who would have though people would pay for my cooking?!

the banoffees were a hit too, even as a last minute addition, i only advertised pumpkin like i had last year, then had people message asking if they could buy banoffee, so i decided to do those as well. winning!

they are definitely my favourite! they look and taste incredible, just like something you'd get from a fancy bakery.

seriously! looks so nice...

and i'm more than just a little bit proud of my creations. thank you to everyone that bought my pies! doug will love you come christmas now that i can afford to buy him something wonderful. 

banoffee pie

i have finally mastered this banoffee pie thing and i am so proud. i have made it for years, but always did a biscuit base, with boiled in the can condensed milk filling, but  now i have made this, i would never, ever, ever go back. the base is amazing, the perfect texture. the filling is smooth and not sickly sweet and it all just comes together so nicely. honestly, it's a 10/10 in my opinion.

the recipe is actually for a slice, but i have modified it to suit a beautifully presented pie, that is perfect every time. my one tip though, strongly recommend freezing the butter. making it so much easier!

BANOFFEE PIE

1 1/3 cups plain flour

1/3 icing sugar

125g frozen butter

1 egg

2 tsp iced water

3 bananas, cut into 1cm-thick slices

300ml tub thickened cream, whipped

40g grated chocolate

Caramel filling

395g can condensed milk

50g butter

1/3 cup golden syrup

 

Step 1. 

Preheat oven to 160C fan-forced. Grease edges and line base of a removable base pie dish.

Step 2

Place flour, icing sugar and butter in a food processor. Process until fine crumbs form. With motor running, add egg and water. Process until pastry comes together. Turn out into prepared pan. Using floured hands, press pastry over baseand up edges of prepared dish. Bake for 18 minutes or until golden. Place pan on a wire rack to cool.

Step 3

Meanwhile, make Caramel filling: Place condensed milk, butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir for 2 to 3 minutes or until smooth. Pour over base in pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden. Cool for 15 minutes, then refrigerate for 1 hour or until cold.

Step 4

Arrange banana, in a single layer, over caramel. Top with whipped cream, spreading to cover. Sprinkle with chocolate. Refrigerate until needed.

banoffee pie slice

i am always getting asked to make banoffee pie. so often in fact, that at one stage i was keeping tins of boiled condensed milk in the fridge ready to go for emergencies. but, this time i was not prepared... and we were asked to come to dinner at a friends house who is particularly fond of said pie. i was scrolling through my saved items on facebook, wondering what i had up my sleeve, when i stumbled upon this delicious looking banoffee pie slice that i had saved, that looked wayyyyy easier, didn't involve hours of boiling time and had sunday dinner written all over it.

you can find the recipe here, but it's basically a baked pie base, with a baked caramel base, covered in bananas and then cream. i couldn't try it (still on the gf df wagon) but i was told it's probably even better than the original, as it's not as sweet, which means you can eat more of it! hahaha. i'm obviously going to be making that one again... so stick around, or somehow get yourself invited to the kendalls for dinner. 

finished product. yum!