Happy National Pi(e) Day: Lightened Banoffee Pie

This is my first year celebrating National Pi Day with a slice of homemade pie. Did you know that Pi day was deemed an actual national holiday by the House of Representatives in 2009. Now I do not actually know if everyone started eating pie 5 years ago, but I think it is a wonderful idea! I should have been celebrating it since math was one of my favorite subjects in school.

How about a nerdy fact that I learned? We need to celebrate it even bigger next year because, according to USA Today, at exactly 3/14/15; 9:26:53, it will show the first ten digits of Pi in perfect order. So cool!

So what pie did I choose to commemorate this day? I actually have been keeping my eye on a specific recipe for the past 6 months from my Dessert recipe board on Pinterest called Banoffee Pie from une gamine dans la cuisine. The pictures of the recipes are what always what capture my attention but I could not muster the richness of the dessert, so I decided to lighten the original recipe. 

What is dessert if not prepared the way it was intended? The recipe calls for 4 steps of sinful goodness, but I was challenged to produce something lighter because I know what dulce de leche and bananas foster taste by themselves.

While the original recipe is almost 800 calories a slice, my recipe turned out to be almost 300 calories a slice. Yes. My husband took an extra slice because it was THAT good, even with this lightened version.

So what did I do? I used low-fat dulce de leche instead of the full-fat version. Instead of graham crackers I used Goya’s Palmeritas, which are Spanish cookies. Even though I like making my own whipped cream, I decided to use Cool Whip, which I only use on occasion, which was simply perfect for this dessert. I know there is no comparison but my hubby and I are making it a point to watch our dessert intake. The bananas foster used coconut sugar, less butter and rum and was so delicious. I could have eaten that on its own.

This layered pie was amazing and was really hard for me to stick to one slice, but maybe I will share with my mother, who comes into town tomorrow. Want a slice? Come on over and share a cup of coffee on this brilliant mathematical day.