60th Birthday Party

On Saturday, Douglas and I went to Lichfield to our friend Pete and Lins.

Pete had his 60th birthday whilst on holiday, so he had a birthday party on Saturday.

I woke early, did some shopping, a bit of house tidying (it has to happen now and then) had a bit more sleep, then we set off, via a rather nice garden centre to get a couple of plants as gifts.

We got to our friends at about 2.30, and had a really good time. I spent quite a while assembling the banoffee pies as my contribution to the feast, then kept an eye on some sausage rolls whilst they cooked. Lin was rushing around like a mad thing trying to be sociable and get everything sorted, so I was only too happy to help out.

I thought you might like the recipe for Banoffee Pie

Its incredibly simple.. the only technique you need to know is how to whip cream.

Ingredients:

Pastry case base (either make, or buy it in)

1 can of Campbells sweetened condensed milk (or, even faster.. their caramel, which is in the same place in the supermarket)

1 small pot of double or whipping cream

A small amount of chocolate to grate over the top once its all done.

Method:

If you have managed to find caramel, open the tins.. if you have only found the sweetened condensed milk.. DO NOT OPEN THE TINS!!

To make the condensed milk into caramel takes two hours. Put the tins in a saucepan and cover them with water. You need to boil the UNOPENED tins for two hours, making sure that they dont boil dry. If they did boil dry you would have a very dangerous and nasty explosion in your kitchen!!

When your tins have cooled down, open them, and you will find the contents have turned into caramel!

Next...

Either make or unwrap your pastry case. If you make it, bake it blind and let it cool down.

Cut up your bananas into discs and fill the case with them.

Open your tin/s and spoon out small spoons of caramel in blobs over the bananas - it will slowly sink through and spread over the bananas.

When you have used up all the lovely gooey caramel, its time to whip your cream into stiff peaks, and spread that all over.

If you wish, you can add a tiny bit of instant coffee to the cream, or a bit of TiaMaria.

Leave in the fridge for an hour or so before you serve it.. its nicer cold.

Grate some chocolate over the cream just before you serve it, and prepare for a very rich, gooey and delicious desert that is incredibly easy to make!!

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We stayed overnight, had breakfast with the other guests sitting in their lovely garden, and went home soon afterwards.

What a lovely weeekend!!