Not Perfect Pastry Banoffee Pies.

Helloooooo. This is not a recipe for the perfect pastry confection. If you're having the Queen round for tea, maybe give these a miss. But if you're in the mood for something spine tingling-ly sweet, smooth and crunchy and oh so bad for you, you're in the right place.

You see perfect pastry is supposed to be thinthinthin and light and to melt on the tongue like a dream. But I'm afraid this bad boy is chunky and sturdy and requires a chomp or two before any melting occurs, which is fiiiiiine by me. I like pastry, I like bit chunks of it, I like to munch on it, and I don't care if that makes me a heathen. Of course perfect pastry is perfect for sophisticated little delights, but this, is not that.

These were a product of pure laziness. I had a big lump of pastry left over, time was ticking, for both me and the pastry and I simple could not be bothered to cut out little rounds and line a tin and cut out baking paper and bake with baking beads. Could. Not. Be. Bothered. So i rolled out a big pastry rectangle and sort of squashed it into the muffin tin and baked it as one.

Cut into big chunky cups you have a vehicle for deliciousness and mine comes in the form of banoffee. A bit more effort-ful than the digestive base I usually go for in a banoffee but hey-ho, pastry needs must. Sorry Your Royal Highness, maybe next time. With Love and Cake.

Individual Banoffee Pies

A few notes:

• I'm sorry about being a bit vague about amounts for the filling, its just that it's more of an assembly job than anything, so really its up to you how much of each layer you fancy, or even how big you want to make the pastry cases. Just go with the flow...this can NOT taste bad.
• Of course you could use the pastry cases for anything you fancy really, you could make mini Brownie Pies or just fill with fruit and Greek yogurt if you want to pretend you're being healthy.
• As I've said numerous times before, this pastry is beautifully buttery and melt-in-the-mouthey thanks to the addition of ground almonds and a light hand. What that also means though is that it’s a bit of a bum to roll out because it is so short  and crumbly. What I tend to end up doing is rolling it out to the thickness I want, attempting to line the tin, and then patching up and patting in the leftovers into gaps and tears. So don’t be disheartened it will turn good in the end.
• You can indeed make you're own dulche de leche, but I haven't ever done that yet...so I'll update you when I do and know exactly how.

Makes 6 big individual pies

You will need

A 6 holed muffin pan, well grease

For the pastry

210g plain flour

50g caster sugar

50g ground almonds

125g butter

1 egg

For the filling

1 tin dulche do leche (Carnation caramel) 

2 ripe bananas, sliced

1 medium tub double cream, whipped lightly

1 square dark chocolate

• So let’s get going. First things first make the pastry by popping all the dry ingredients into a food processor and pulse together. Then whiz in the butter followed by the egg and leave trundling around until it comes together to form a dough (you could also do this by rubbing in the butter with your finger tips then mixing in the egg by hand).
• Turn out the dough, pat into a disc and chill in the fridge for at least half an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 180°c.
• When the pastry's ready, roll it out as best you can to a rectangle. Lay over the muffin tin and gently push down to line the holes. Patch up any tears that appear with leftover bits and pieces. 
• Bake for 25-30 minutes until just turning golden.
• As soon as the pastry's out of the oven use a sharp knife to cut between the holes to make square topped cases.
• Leave to cool in the tin for around 15 minutes then gently remove and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
• Now for filling, blob and smooth a couple of teaspoons of the caramel into the bottom of each case. top with banana then cream.
• For a final flourish grate a sprinkling of chocolate over the top. Enjoy and leave feeling fancy for another day.