Banoffee Protein Mousse Pie

This Banoffee Protein Mousse Pie is everything you want for dessert: Creamy, light, crunchy, caramelly, and decadent, with a flavour somewhere between banoffee pie and tiramisu due to the hint of instant espresso powder in the mousse and almond scented crust.
Just as the strawberry version of this, it’s perfect to impress your guests, while happily enjoying pie even while trying to lose weight.
On top of all that, it is incredibly healthy, has no cream in it whatsoever, but instead 10g protein per portion with only about 230 calories. No really.

I have made this Banoffee Protein Mousse Pie a few times since. The first one is my “everyday” version.

This second one is my Christmas version, which has added Caramelized Cinnamon Almonds on top.

Why You Want to Make This

High Protein

When thinking of ways to include more protein in my diet, I found that pre-shaking a protein powder I enjoy with a low amount of liquid, gives me a custard like consistency and flavour, ideal to add to all kinds of things, without ruining them with chalky protein clumps.

Not sponsored. Not affiliated: I use MyProtein Whey, lots of different flavours, no weird texture. Just plain creamy and lovely. I have no negative reaction to the whey, despite being lactose intolerant. Your mileage may vary, so while I highly recommend giving this a try, you can use whatever protein powder you love. So while I whipped up a quick banoffee themed protein yoghurt for breakfast one day, I thought “Could I make this into a pie?”.

I don’t know about you, but one of my all-time favourite desserts, which I only found after I moved to Ireland, is Banoffee pie. Now with all the cookies, butter, caramel and cream on top, the classic version of this has over 500 calories per piece. Not ideal when trying to lose weight! Also, the nutrition of it leaves lot to be desired.

The Ingredients

Bananas – Obviously a Banoffee Pie needs bananas. Despite just 2 in the picture because I’m scatterbrained, I used 3. You could get away with 2, if you sliced then before covering the base and don’t top your Banoffee Protein Mousse Pie with more for decoration. I just love using the bananas sliced in half on the crust as they keep longer due to less surface area and it’s simply more fresh banana flavour. 

Talking about fresh: Do use Bananas at your preferred grade of ripeness for this, as they make a major part of the flavour. I quite like them either just about ripe or even slightly green, since the gentle acidity plays well with the creamy sweetness of the mousse.

The Mousse – I knew I wanted to include the protein, for nutrition and flavour, but wondered how I could get it to a whipped cream like consistency. Using Soy milk would keep the calories low, but how to make it into the mousse like consistency I had in mind? I checked online for vegan options, but none was giving me exactly what I wanted, so I turned to gelatine, adding some 0% fat Greek yoghurt for even more protein, structure, and creaminess. 

Due to the protein powder, I only needed to add 1 tsp Honey, to get the sweetness I wanted. I know this sounds incredibly low, but trust me on this. Or don’t trust me, but instead try the mousse when you mixed all the ingredients. If you aren’t purring with pleasure, add more of whatever you feel it needs.

I’m also including instant espresso powder and an optional hint of Almond essence, to give a lovely contrast to the creamy sweetness of the mousse and bananas. 

The end result is creamy decandence resembling whipped cream with Tiramisu notes. No one will even believe you when you tell them it’s low calorie.

The Caramel was an easy replacement with a very simple salted date caramel. It is whipped up in the food processor or high soeed blender within minutes. Much easier than classic sugar based caramel and healthier, since it still contains all the fibre. 
I made an additional version for the reworking of this recipe, simply to drizzle on top for decoration. But that is my no means mandatory. It is however fantastic to drizzle over icecream, oats or pancakes, so worth trying.

You can vary this and make it creamier by adding plant based milk or more water.

Almond Crust – For the base, to replace the cookies and butter with a more wholesome option, I got inspiration from one of my favourite cookbooks “At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen: Celebrating the Art of Eating Well” by Amy Chaplin and her fabulous Toasted Almond Base recipe.

All those small changes brought me to the ridiculous nutrition below per piece. Can we appreciate a Protein Banoffee Mousse Pie with just about 230 calories and more than 8g protein per serving for a minute?

Optional Caramelised Cinnamon Almonds 

I have added these in me remaking of the recipe around Christmas and loved the crunch they added on top of the pie. They are entirely option and just for the topping. The calories are not included in the pie. But if you want a special Christmas treat and a particularly festive pie, they only take a few minutes to make and are utterly delicious. All you need is almonds, sugar, butter, cinnamon and vanilla.

The Process

The Almond Crust

Preheat your oven to 350°F/175°C and line a springform with parchment paper.

Toast your almonds in the oven  for 8 minutes, stir them, toast for another 5-8 minutes or until they smell fantastic and are slightly browned in the middle.

Leave the oven on, while you mix the crust.

Add half of your almonds to the food processor together with the oats and process until you have the consistency of breadcrumbs. Don’t overprocess or you get accidental almond butter.
Chop the remaining almonds roughly, to keep some crunch in the base.

Add the almond-oat mix and all remaining ingredients to a bowl and stir until everything is well incorporated.

Spread the almond base into your springform and bake for about 14-18 minutes or until golden brown and your kitchen is filled with heavenly almond aroma.

Let the base cool while you mix the filling. You can prepare it the day before, if you want to get ahead.

Date Caramel

Remove the pits from your dates. Soak in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain.

I made the version in the picture with plant milk, as I wanted one to drizzle over, so I used more liquid. But for the cake caramel I used the measurements in the recipe.

In a high speed blender (I used my Nutribullet) or food processor add your pitted dates, water and salt. Blend until you have a creamy date caramel. Taste and add more salt if you like.

The Banoffee filling

The whole assembly is really easy: Mix the gelatine powder with 2 tbsp water in a small bowl. Then warm the mix in the microwave for just 10-15 seconds, no longer. Mix yoghurt, milk and protein powder together with a hand mixer or, if you are very energetic, which I am not, a hand whisk. Then, while still whisking, slowly add the liquid gelatine, until you have a very foamy consistency. Put in the fridge for about 10minutes, so it cools down a little, while you prepare the crust.

Spread the date caramel over the crust. Top with sliced bananas or, if you are like me and want a lot of banana flavour, just half them lengthwise and lay them onto the date caramel so your whole crust iss covered. Add the mousse on top, cover with clingfilm or aluminium foil, careful, so it doesn’t touch the filling. Cool for 2-3 hours. Decorate if you like.

And there you have it: A stunning, yet super healthy and low calorie Protein Banoffee Mousse Pie.

Optional Caramelised Cinnamon Almonds 

If you decide to make the almonds (2 cups will make much more than you need, but once you’ve tried them you’ll want to snack on them. So reduce at your own risk.) get a non stick pan.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper and grease the paper with the butter.

Add sugar, cinnamon and vanilla together with 1/4 cup water to your pot and let it come to a boil.

Once it bubbles energetically, add the almonds and keep stirring.
Cook the mix while stirring until it becomes first a syrup, then stringy and then crystallizes onto the almonds. This will take a few minutes. 

Pour the almonds onto your prepared baking parchment and separate with a fork if needed. Let them cool before trying them.

Decorate your Banoffee Protein Mousse Pie with drizzles of thinned out date caramel, more banana and the caramelized cinnamon almonds if using.

Looking for more delicious desserts with added protein? Try my Strawberry Protein Mousse Pie or  Sourdough Brownies with Protein. Super chocolate-y and fudgy, yet with protein, so you give your body nutrients while enjoying your dessert. Or Snack. Or, hey, breakfast. Sure. 🙂

Now I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
Have you tried this? Did you enjoy it?
What other recipes would you like to see?

If you enjoyed this recipe, please share. It helps me a lot. 🙂

Banoffee Protein Mousse Pie Recipe

Sonja Goeden

This pie is everything you want for dessert: Creamy, light, crunchy, caramelly and decadent, with a flavour somewhere between banoffee pie and tiramisu due to the hint of instant espresso powder in the mousse and almond scented crust. Just as the strawberry version of this, it’s perfect to impress your guests, while happily enjoying pie even while trying to lose weight. On top of all that, it is incredibly healthy, has no cream in it whatsoever, but instead 10g protein per portion with only about 230 calories. No really.

5 from 11 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 35 minutes mins

Fridge Time 2 hours hrs

Total Time 3 hours hrs 35 minutes mins

Course Cake, Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 8

Calories 230 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 3 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil
• 2/3 cup almonds divided.
• ¼ cup Oats
• 2/3 cup wholegrain spelt flour
• 1 tbsp maple sirup or honey
• 2 tbsp 0 calorie maple sirup Alternatively use 3tbsp pure maple all in all
• 1/2 tsp salt Divided
• 1/2 tsp almond extract Divided. 1/4 for the crust, 1/4 for the mousse.
• 10 Medjool dates For the data caramel. Check notes for details.
• 1.2 cups 0% fat Greek yoghurt
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup soy milk
• 1 tsp instant espresso optional
• 2 scoops protein powder I used “MyProtein – Speculoos” for added flavour, but vanilla works too for a more cream-like taste. Alternatively, you can add a hint of almond extract and cinnamon to mimic the speculoos flavour profile.
• 2 tbsp powdered gelatine 1 pack
• 3 bananas Either 2.5 halved lengthwise the rest sliced for decoration. Or all sliced.

Optional Caramelized Cinnamon Almonds

• 2 tbsp butter for greasing the parchment
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups whole almonds

Instructions

 

• Prepare the almond crust base:
• Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
• Toast the almonds in the oven for about 5-8min, until fragrant
• Place 1/2 cup of the toasted almonds and the oats in a food processor and pulse until coarsely ground. Chop the rest by hand, so you still have texture, but no big pieces.
• In a mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients
• Add the oil, almond extract, and maple sirup to the dry ingredients. Mix well until a sticky dough forms.
• Press the dough into the bottom of a springform pan, which you have lined with baking parchment.
• Bake the crust in the preheated oven for about 14-18 minutes, or until it turns golden brown. Turn once if your oven bakes unevenly.
• Once the crust is done baking, remove it from the oven and let it cool completely. Do not take out of the springform, as you will need it to hold the mousse until it’s firmed up. Cover with clingfilm after it is cooled if you make it the day before.
• To make the date caramel, soak the medjool dates in freshly boiled water for about 10min.
• Add to small food processor bowl with a pinch of salt (or more to taste) and blend with about 2tbsp water until you have a creamy caramel. Add more water to adjust the consistency.
• Prepare the mousse filling:
• In a separate mixing bowl, combine the Greek yogurt, Soy milk, protein powder, honey, almond- and vanilla extract. Mix well until smooth.
• Dissolve the gelatine powder in 2 tbsp cold water, stirring thoroughly, until no powder or clumps remain. Heat in the microwave for 10-15 seconds until liquid.
• Grab a hand mixer or pour the yoghurt-protein mix into a blender. Start mixing or blending while drizzling the liquid gelatine into the mix. Continue until you have a foamy mix.
• Or do this by hand with a whisk if you want some additional exercise.
• Assemble the pie:
• Spread a layer of date caramel evenly over the crust.
• Slice the bananas and arrange them on top of the date caramel layer. Or half lengthwise and spread until the crust is covered.
• Pour the prepared protein mousse filling on the crust (make sure the springform is still around it) over the bananas, ensuring it covers them entirely.
• Place the pie in the refrigerator to set for at least 2-3 hours or until the mousse is firm.
• Once the mousse has set, remove the pie from the refrigerator.
• Optionally, you can garnish the pie with additional banana slices, a drizzle of date caramel, or some melted dark chocolate.
• Look at the nutrition. Then try a piece of pie. Be baffled. Look at the label again. Have another piece.

Optional Caramelized Cinnamon Almonds

• If you decide to make the almonds (2 cups willmake much more than you need, but once you've tried them you'll want to snackon them. So reduce at your own risk.) get a nonstick pan. Line a baking traywith parchment paper and grease the paper with the butter.
• Add sugar, cinnamon and vanilla together with1/4 cup water to your pot and let it come to a boil. Once it bubblesenergetically, add the almonds and keep stirring.
• Cook the mix while stirring until it becomes first a syrup,then stringy and then crystallizes onto the almonds. This will take a few minutes. 
• Pour the almonds onto your prepared baking parchment andseparate with a fork if needed. Let them cool before trying them.

  Decorate your Banoffee Protein Mousse Pie with the caramelised almonds and more banana.

Notes

Note: This pie is best consumed within a few days of preparation to enjoy its fresh flavours and textures. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

The date caramel makes more than needed, as it’s tricky to get less of it properly creamy in the food processor. Plus it is so delicious, that you’ll want to eat it with all kinds of things. Try dipping fruit into it or use it in my Banoffee- Protein- Granola Yoghurt. 

 

Nutrition

Calories: 230kcal

Nutrition Facts

Banoffee Protein Mousse Pie Recipe

Amount per Serving

Calories

230

% Daily Value*

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Keyword Easy, For Guests, Healthy, Low Calorie, Protein, Vegetarian

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