This recipe is a scrumptious adaptation of the all time favorite banana split ice cream. PHOTO: SABA CALLEA

When  you Google ‘easy dessert recipes,’ more than seven million tempting results come up to make you drool all over your key board. But scroll down to the ingredients, and a wave of disappointment takes away all that joy as most of the ingredients are not available in Pakistan.

Facing a similar situation, I came across this recipe. It required a ‘ready to cook’ pie crust and yoghurt filling. Sadly, these ingredients were not available here in Karachi, so I decided to make my own.

This recipe is a scrumptious adaptation of the all time favourite banana split ice cream. It is a perfect dessert for dinner and lunch parties. It requires easily available ingredients and very little time and effort.

Another attractive point about this recipe is that you can prepare it a few hours ahead of serving, and also, the process of preparation has been broken down into small and easy tasks. While it looks and sounds very fancy, at the core it is very simple but delicious. The softness of the filling and the fruit give a comforting feeling which complements the crunchy crust and chocolate chips. Give yourself and your guests a unique and mysterious flavour combination - one which they will never forget.

Crust:

1 cup flour

1/3 cup butter or shortening

1 tbs powdered sugar

2 tbs water

A pinch of salt

Filling:

1 ¼ cup fresh yoghurt

½ packet of cream

3 tbs icing sugar

Zest of one orange

Topping:

2 cups fresh strawberries (cut into slices)

3 bananas (cut into slices)

½ cup chocolate chips

Chocolate syrup for drizzling

Hand full of nuts 

Method:

• Heat the oven at 300 degrees before you start with the preparations, and also place a mixing bowl along with a whisk in the freezer. This will be needed while making the filling.

• For the crust, sift the flour along with salt and sugar. Add the butter, and using your finger tips, blend it in to the mixture. The heat from your fingers will melt the butter, and the mixture will start resembling bread crumbs. At this point, add water. The mixture will still be crumbly.

• Press the mixture in to a baking dish and bake for twenty to twenty-five minutes, or until the surface has browned slightly.

• As the crust bakes, move on to the filling. In a medium bowl beat the yoghurt with sugar and orange zest just until it is smooth. Now take out the chilled mixing bowl from the freezer. Use this and beat the cream until soft peaks form (use an electric beater, it’s quite a tedious process).

• Fold the cream with the yoghurt mixture and let it cool.

• When the crust comes out of the oven, sprinkle it with half of the chocolate chips so that the chips stick to the base. Allow it to cool till it reaches room temperature. Now pour your chilled yoghurt and cream filling on to the crust.

• Top the filling with bananas, strawberries, more chocolate chips, and nuts. Create a chunky look to make it look like a banana split. Finally drizzle with chocolate syrup.

• Serve chilled.

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