Banoffee Pie

Catherine had mentioned Banoffee Pie a couple weeks ago.  I had NO CLUE what Banoffee Pie was until I saw the recipes -- bananas + toffee = banoffee.  Light dawned!  I still wasn't sure if I was sold on it, but I knew she wanted me to make it so I found this recipe on Pinterest and got the ingredients.  I figured Family Game Night was a good time to give it a try.  It wasn't that hard to make at all (except for the fact that the cans of dulce de leche seemed to be glued shut), and I'll say that I was totally won over.  So many delicious flavors and tastes in this one pie!

Crust:

• 24 Oreos
  (I used Double Stuffed Oreos)
• 5 tablespoons butter, melted

Pie:

• 1 ¾ cups dulce de leche
  (due to the can opening issues mentioned above, I only used 1 can and felt that was enough)
• 2 bananas, sliced
• 1 cup chocolate covered toffee bits (see Note below)
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• ¼ cup brown sugar

* Note:  The original recipe suggested using Heath brand of chocolate covered toffee bits, but if you can’t find those to chop up regular-sized Heath bars.  I found Heath toffee bits, but could not find any chocolate covered and did not buy the whole candy bars, so I improvised and melted half a bag of Hershey dark chocolate chips with 2 Tbsp. of butter in the microwave and then mixed with a whole bag of toffee (1 ½ cups of toffee bits – I did not use all for this pie and probably have enough to make a second pie).  I put a piece of wax paper on a plate and flattened the chocolate toffee mixture and put in the freezer for 5 minutes.  I then crumbled up the chocolate covered toffee to use as directed below.

DIRECTIONS

1. Crush up the Oreos.
2. Add the cookies and butter until well combined.
3. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate.
4. Refrigerate or freeze until set, about 30 minutes.
5. Spread the dulce de leche over the bottom and up the sides of the chilled crust.
6. In a medium bowl, combine the powdered sugar, brown sugar and cream cheese, until smooth and fluffy.
7. Add the heavy whipping cream and starting at the lowest speed, to avoid splatters, mix until the mixture is light and creamy.
8. Slice the bananas about 1/4-inch thick and layer the slices over the dulce de leche in the crust.
9. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup toffee bits over the bananas.
10. Spread the whipped cream filling over the bananas and toffee, making sure to spread all the way to the edges of the pie, covering the bananas completely so they don't brown.
11. Sprinkle the top of the pie with the remaining toffee bits.
12. Chill for 1-2 hours before serving and up to 8 hours (longer than that and the bananas may get a little brown and mushy). 

Adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe blog