Green Tea Banoffee Pie

slice of Banoffee Pie — Photo:
Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen

Active Time:

45 mins

Chill Time:

3 hrs

Total Time:

4 hrs 35 mins

Servings:

Yield:

1 9-inch pie

Many teas share flavors with baked goods — think nuts, warm spices, or citrus — and you can enhance those flavors by adding finely crushed tea leaves, tea powder, or brewed tea to your baked creations. In this spectacular pie, hojicha, a roasted Japanese green tea, is mixed into the crust and flavors the whipped cream that crowns the layers of banana, dulce de leche, and chocolate. The crushed tea leaves release their oils, giving the dessert a caramelized flavor.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is in a banoffee pie?

Bananas, toffee, a shortbread cookie or graham cracker crust, and whipped cream are the traditional elements of a banoffee pie. This version uses store-bought canned dulce de leche to save on time.
What is hojicha?

Hojicha is a roasted Japanese green tea. Unlike matcha, hojicha is brown with a rich and earthy flavor and a low caffeine content.

Notes from the Food & Wine Test Kitchen

“The roasted, nutty flavors of the hojicha tea bring depth and balance to this decadent pie on many levels,” says recipe developer Melissa Gray. “The leaves in the crust bring a bite of bitterness to the buttery, shortbread cookies, and the ground hojicha in the whipped cream offers those nutty, roasted flavors. Finally, the powdered sugar–hojicha topping brings those flavors first and foremost to your nose and palate.”

If you don’t have a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder, you can purchase and use a pre-ground hojicha powder for the whipped cream. You can find it online at kettle.co.

Make ahead

The crust can be made ahead and kept at room temperature for up to three days, covered with plastic wrap. Loosely cover the finished pie with plastic wrap, and store in the refrigerator for up to three days.

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Ingredients

Crust

1 1/2 cups packed finely crushed shortbread cookies (about 28 cookies) (such as Lorna Doone)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons loose-leaf hojicha tea (such as Kettl Jou Yanagi) (see Note), lightly crushed
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 ounces), melted

Filling

1/4 cup finely chopped dark chocolate (such as Lindt Excellence 70% Cocoa)
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter (4 ounces)
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup canned dulce de leche (such as Nestlé)
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 bananas, halved lengthwise and cut into quarters

Hojicha Whipped Cream

3 1/2 teaspoons loose-leaf hojicha tea (such as Kettl Jou Yanagi)
1/4 teaspoon powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream

Directions

Make the crust

Preheat oven to 325°F. Stir together crushed cookies, granulated sugar, crushed tea leaves, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in melted butter until well combined. Press crumb mixture into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake in preheated oven until crust is fragrant and lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack, about 30 minutes.

Make the filling

Microwave chocolate in a medium-size heatproof bowl on HIGH until melted and smooth, 1 to 2 minutes, stopping to stir every 15 seconds. Spread chocolate in an even layer in bottom of cooled crust. Freeze, uncovered, until firm, about 10 minutes.
Heat butter and brown sugar in a medium saucepan over medium until butter melts. Cook, stirring constantly, 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in dulce de leche and salt until smooth. Spread dulce de leche filling over cooled chocolate in crust. Arrange banana pieces over filling in an even layer; set aside at room temperature.

Make the hojicha whipped cream

Finely grind tea leaves in a spice grinder, about 30 seconds. (Alternatively, finely grind tea using a mortar and pestle.) Stir together powdered sugar, cocoa, and 1/4 teaspoon ground tea in a small bowl; set aside. Set aside remaining ground tea.
Beat together cream cheese and granulated sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or an electric hand mixer on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Scrape bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula. Add cream and remaining ground tea (about 1 1/2 teaspoons); beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes. Spoon whipped cream mixture over bananas.
Refrigerate pie, uncovered, until filling is set, about 3 hours. Dust pie with reserved tea–powdered sugar mixture.

Originally appeared in Food & Wine magazine, April 2024