Banoffee Tarts

I could eat dulche de leche (rich gooey, sticky, toffee sauce) in spoonfuls straight from the jar or tin - it's my idea of heaven. And with bananas it's a winning combination, for me anyway. So why is banoffee pie a rare treat in our house when I love it so much? Well, my hubby has something to do with it. He HATES bananas with a PASSION! In fact if I eat a banana he recoils in horror and looks at me as though I've been rolling in dog poo. My girls were never banana lovers either but they've taught themselves to like them - they followed the if-you-eat-something-everyday-for-20-days-you'll-grow-to-like-it rule, and it worked. In fact, younger daughter Ellie made these tarts for me as I've been rushing to meet a recipe book deadline. She polished off quite a few with her friend Charlie who tried to get a whole one in his mouth, but didn't quite meet the challenge.
Sainsbury's sell chilled gingerbread dough and I thought it would make a great banoffee pie base. It was a tad dry and difficult to roll out as it kept cracking so in the end we rolled it into smallish balls and rolled out small circles for each tart. Once baked though it was nice and crisp and had a good flavour.

Makes 12 tarts
Takes about 25 mins plus cooling

350g Sainsbury's gingerbread dough block
12 tsp dulche de leche sauce (such as Merchant Gourmet) or half a 397g can Carnation Caramel
1 small banana, sliced
150ml pot double cream or whipping cream
1 small chocolate Flake, crumbled

1 Take the gingerbread dough out of the fridge 20 minutes before you want to use it. Heat the oven to 190C, Fan 170C, Gas 5. Roll out the gingerbread dough on a lightly floured surface and cut out 12 x 8cm rounds using a cutter and use to line a 12 hole bun tin. Any gingerbread trimmings can be re-rolled and used to make biscuits. Bake in the oven for 8-10 mins until crisp. Leave to cool.

2 Place a teaspoon of dulche de leche in each gingerbread tart case and top with a slice of banana. Whip the cream until just thick enough to form soft peaks, then place a spoonful on top of each tart and sprinkle with crumbled Flake. Chill until ready to serve, they'll keep a good few hours in the fridge if you want to make them in advance.