Would you like to experience the joy of an easy, no-bake delicious yet healthy dessert?!  Get five jars and your favourite fruit – in half an hour you too could be tucking in!  These incredibly yummy treats were inspired by my first encounter with a banoffee pie in a jar at a local restaurant recently.  Did you know banoffee (banana + toffee) pie is a classic English dessert developed in 1971? More info on Wikipedia here.  Now back to the restaurant:  my friends and I were full so we shared a jar for dessert, which promptly turned into a frenzy of spoon digging and yum yums.  I was so surprised by this scrumptious pie in a jar and also left with a craving for banoffee (yes, crazy idea sharing a jar with 3 people).  So it was off to the kitchen to experiment with a healthier version.  Then some IG friends were posting for a mango party, so I thought:  let’s go mangoffee too!  A week later some cherries in the fridge begged their way into the experiment then the sour cherries in a jar got in there, adding a lovely tang.  I sense the raspberries will be joining soon!  Anyway, you get the idea:  rope in some fruit and make these delicious no-bake pies in a jar, with a lightly crunchy oats and nuts crumble base, a heavenly smooth date caramel (aka toffee), and delightfully refreshing fresh fruit layer.  All topped with light creamy unsweetened coconut milk.  Simple and amazing.  So you’re invited to a fruit-offee party with some mangoffee, cheroffee or banoffee pies in a jar!  Bring any fruit you like! 🙂

THE RECIPE

These are invented and inspired by different recipes and ideas, with elements adapted from a non-jar version:  Banoffee Pie from My New Roots on the Oh She Glows blog.  Mine had a baked crust.

It was super yummy but banoffee pie is a messy thing so maybe it’s better off in a jar?  Ahem.  Anyway after weeks of testing here’s the recipe for you. 🙂

What you need

• 5 to 6 jars (depends on size) – mine were 8cm/3in in diametre and 5cm/2in high.  I used sealing jars, useful for closing then storing in the fridge but don’t overfill them (yes, messy overspill!).  Or use nice glasses and call them verrines (the posh French version).  I confess I bought my jars because they’re so attractive, just like the pie in a jar in that restaurant.  And who doesn’t want trendy-looking desserts?! Tee hee. 🙂
• A food processor or similar appliance.
• A disposable piping bag or small plastic bag.
  
• A can of very pure coconut milk that’s been in the fridge 24 hours or more.  The idea is the coconut milk and cream separate when chilled enough.  So you scoop out the cream carefully and leave the liquid behind.  The first time it worked fine but was a bit soft, the second I managed to get a stiff peak (wow!) but the third there were no-separation issues so I used actual ‘coconut cream’, which ironically was soft (see the photos with a ‘flatter’ topping).  The good news is it firms up when chilled in the fridge an hour or so. There’s a theory the coconut milk needs to be just coconut and water and any extras like preservatives will prevent the separation process.  Alternatively use whipped cream or fold a little into any soft coconut milk/cream.

You can play around with the ingredients, using oatmilk or cow’s milk instead of almond milk, replacing the nuts with others you prefer or making the base with just oats if you’re not into nuts.  But I do love this nutty crumble…

Crumble base

• 64g/2/3 cup unsweetened rolled oats (gluten-free)
• 46g/1/3 cup almonds
• 35g/1/3 cup pecan nuts
• 2 teaspoons (12g) unsweetened almond milk
• 1 tsp (9g) pure maple syrup or honey
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• pinch of fine sea salt

Date caramel (aka toffee)

• 275g/1 and 1/2 cups pitted mejdool dates.  If they’re ordinary dates soak 1 or 2 hours to soften them
• 3 tablespoons/51g healthy organic almond butter (or cashew)
• 2 tablespoons/32g unsweetened almond milk
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Fresh fruit and cream

These are approximate quantities, depending on your tastes and size of fruit (note: coat banana slices in the juice of one lemon so they keep better and don’t go brown).

• 5 jars of mangoffee pie:  3 to 4 small-medium mangoes
• 5 jars of cheroffee pie:  10 fresh cherries and 55 sour cherries in light syrup from a jar, drained.
• 5 jars of banoffee pie:  3 medium-sized bananas
• 400ml/13.5 fluid ounces can of coconut milk (refrigerated at least 24 hours) or whipping cream
• 2 – 3 squares dark chocolate or a handful of chocolate flakes (optional)

Mango roses

It’s not hard to make a lopsided rose-like mango shape following a nice explanation on youtube:  Mango rose tartlets video (watch from 8:00 to 9:10).

Eating and storing

Chill your pies in the fridge for 1-2 hours before eating.  Cover in plastic film to store if they’re in glasses.  They’ll keep in the fridge up to 3 days (maybe 4-5 but they haven’t lasted that long yet).

Sharing

So there you go, yummy pie in a jar.  Which one would you like?  Mangoffee or classic banoffee?  A few of spoons of each maybe?

A sour cheroffee one?  Hope you’ll be inspired to fruit-offee-fy after seeing these banoffee, mangoffee and cheroffee pies in a jar! 🙂

I’m -offee now (hoho) so bidding you a fond farewell sweet reader and have a lovely weekend with yummy refreshing treats!  Happy baking, no-baking and eating! 🙂 Lili x

 

 

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