Easiest Banoffee Pie

I’m a sucker for other people’s favorite foods. When someone tells me how much they love something it piques my interest and I want to find out why. Banoffee pie is a perfect example. I was talking with a friend about easy desserts and she had nothing but praise for the simple, satisfying banoffee pie. It is the kind of dessert I love because, at heart, it is the easiest thing but if you spend more time with it, you can make it more sophisticated if you want but who would? The appeal is that you can have the thought you want some and be eating it half an hour later.

This is the simple version. Probably the simplest version because you rely on a can of Carnation Caramel. It means that the caramel layer doesn’t ever really set and the leftovers ooze caramel out into the tart tin but that only makes it more tempting. You can go after some of that caramel with a spoon with no guilt because soon after you return it to the fridge, the evidence of your sneaky spoonful will be completely obliterated by a new pool of luscious, luscious caramel.

You will not believe it but the listed ingredients for Carnation Caramel are: whole milk and sugar. That’s it. That is incredible to me, especially as we’re doing our best to limit the amount of ultraprocessed food we eat. I was sure that decision was going to force me to use up what I had and avoid it in the future but two ingredients that I can pronounce and buy in the store separately keep it on the grocery list. I could not be happier. It is great as a dip for fruit, over ice cream, swirled into brownies and, of course, in this banoffee pie. It’s so straightforward there’s no excuse to not make it.

My friend was right. This is a loveable dessert. There’s nothing fancy about it, you know all the flavors but they come together in a way that suggest effortless things like a lunch out in the sunshine with your best friends that turns into a long afternoon because no one wants to leave.