I’m sure you’re all familiar with the classic banoffee pie? Well this is a ridiculously simple variation using all the wonderful spring strawberries flooding the markets at the moment. It has the same biscuit crust, coated with chocolate for an extra crunch, same thick caramel, and same whipped cream. The only difference is topping with halved strawberries rather than a layer of bananas in the middle. As well as being seasonal, it’s also popular with all the family, as opposed to bananas, which definitely aren’t!

Now, to the details… The crust of this can be made from Granita or digestive biscuits (I’ve tried both), or Graham crackers, depending where you come from. The caramel layer is generally made from condensed milk, but I used Top ’n’ Fill Caramel, which is basically the result when you cook a tin of condensed milk for a few hours, except they’ve done it for you! If this isn’t available, there are many recipes for cooking up condensed milk – here’s an example from the source.

This is probably not a typical recipe for me, as I am fond of making things from scratch, but I’m also very happy to admit when a manufactured product does the job (yay for bought butter puff pastry), and condensed milk is pretty much a perfect food* in terms of how well it works in so many recipes, so making it is something I’m happy to leave to the professionals (or the poor blighters on GBBO during dairy week).

Biscuits crusts are another shortcut I love (crushed biscuits are also great in confectionary) though again, you can use a bought or homemade shortcrust base if you like. This is more of a compilation than a recipe, so any other combination you like that has some sort of biscuit base, with caramel and a creamy topping can’t help but be delicious!

If you’re interested, the base, caramel and cream freeze well, though obviously top with the strawberries the day of serving, but honestly this is so quick, I’m not sure that I’d bother. Having said that, frozen caramel is pretty nice, so a frozen version topped with ice cream rather than cream is crossing my mind…

*not nutritionally of course!

Strawboffee pie

• 250g packet granita/digestive biscuits
• 100g butter
• 100g dark chocolate
• 1 x 395g tin Top ’n’ Fill Caramel
• 300ml thickened cream (35% milk fat)
• 2 punnets strawberries (preferably not too huge – mine were a bit big)

Blitz together biscuits and butter in a food processor until the crumbs start clumping together. Add a pinch of salt if using unsalted butter. (If you don’t have a food processor, put the biscuits in a bag and crush with a rolling pin, then mix with the melted butter) Press crumb mixture over the base and sides of a pie dish, and put in the fridge while preparing the filling.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave. I use the melt function, but otherwise use low power, and remove when about ¾ melted, stirring until the remaining chocolate melts. Use a pastry brush to brush the chocolate over the base and up the sides, then return to the fridge.

Tip the caramel into a bowl and whisk briefly until smooth. Whip the cream with an electric beater until softly whipped and just holds peaks. Pour the caramel into the base and smooth the top, then dollop over the whipped cream. You can freeze the pie at this stage if you like, otherwise refrigerate until serving.

When ready to serve, wash, hull, and halve or quarter the strawberries, then arrange point side up over the pie. Leftovers will keep a few days – if you have any!

Serves 8