Banoffee pie!

This week Dimitra shares her favorite summer dessert. Banana and toffee make a dreamy combination! Here is a super easy recipe for a fresh banana pie.

Ingredients:

½ pack of butter cookies (or digestive)

3 tbs butter

1 can of sugared milk

2-3 bananas

4 tbs sugar 

1 pack of cream

How to:

1. Crash the cookies and mix them with the melted butter. But the mix on your serving plate to create the base.

2. Put the closed can of sugared milk to boil in low temperature for three hours. The sugared milk will become a thick caramel cream. (You can store the can for a month before opening it)

Put the caramel cream on top of the cookie base on your serving plate.

3. Slice up the bananas and put them in the serving plate.

4. Whip the cream with the sugar. You can add more sugar if you want it sweeter. But don't forget that the caramel cream adds a great amount of sweetness to your cake. Cover the tart with the whipped cream and your dessert is ready.

ENJOY!!

Keep it in the fridge. The bananas will start getting dark after 1 day, but they are still eatable.

DIY...with a lemon twist

Growing up with two lemon trees in the garden resulted to my love for lemons.

I always enjoy finding new lemon recipes. Baking lemon pies is almost a monthly event! 

When I was asked to share a tutorial with you, I immediately thought of sharing such a recipe with you. 

What do you think?

I’m sure you will enjoy this lemon liqueur. It is similar to the Italian Limonchello, which I’m sure many of you have tried once or twice somewhere. It is an easy recipe, but it needs patience.

Ingredients:

1½ kg lemons
1lt of vodka
A glass bottle or airtight jar
4 glasses of water
900gr sugar
A huge bottle for serving.

Steps

1. If you bought the lemons, wash them well. Most lemons you buy at the store are waxed. I used lemons from my parents' garden in Greece!!

2. Peal the lemons and only keep the yellow part (as the white part of the peal is a bit bitter).

3. Add it in a bottle with the vodka and let it sit at the balcony for a week. It doesn't need sun!! Which makes it perfect for the Finnish spring sky!

4. When the 1 week is over, make the syrup. Boil the water and sugar for around 10 min.

I tried to use the smaller pot, but it didn't fit all the water. I kept cool and changed my syrup to the bigger one, no biggie!

5. Let the syrup cool down and strain the vodka.

6. In a nice looking bottle add the 

syrup and vodka. The liqueur is ready.

7. Store it in a cool place or the fridge. It has such a nice and bright yellow colour. Trust me, everyone will be impressed with the flavour, aroma and look!

8. Invite some friends and have a nice evening! Serve it in small fancy liqueur glasses or shot glasses. But no need to hurry, chill and enjoy it.

(Since you only need the peal of the lemons, you can try and make homemade lemonade with the juice.)

You really need a huge bottle to store your finished liqueur. You need to fit 1lt of Vodka and all the cyrup. That's why I got myself the biggest vodka bottle in Alko. People on the street might have been staring, but now my liqueur looks fancy. Oh but even this bottle didn't fit it all...so I had to use a tiny one as well.

This recipe is extra awesome, because you don't have to limit it to lemons. Try oranges, mantarins, blood oranges. Imagine how refreshing it will be drinking some by the lake in the summer.

I think I'll go get myself a glass... (^_^)


Enjoy the weekend,
Dimitra