Banana Foster

Can you imagine something better than Banana, Caramel and rum??

This week I had a bunch of bananas going bad, so I needed recipes that used a lot. While I started by thinking banana cupcakes with caramel, suddenly I remembered why not caramelized bananas. Sounds yummy. But then I took it to the next level – BANANA FOSTER

While this american dessert should be served on its on with vanilla Ice cream I also decided to fill my cupcakes with them- recipe here.

…OMG they ended up amazing!!

But for you who don’t know what banana foster is, it’s bananas caramelized in butter and sugar, and then flambeed in rum.

A bit of History

You know me by now, I love a bit of history wrapped with my food. It’s an amazing thing to realize how recipes were invented and created. Sometimes it’s out of necessity, others to use what nature gives you, but this time it was to impress…

” In 1951, when the Brennan restaurant operation consisted only of Brennan’s Vieux Carre on Bourbon Street, Owen Brennan asked his sister Ella to come up with a fancy new dessert for a dinner that night honoring Richard Foster for being named chairman of the New Orleans Crime Commission. An already-overworked Ella Brennan gathered her chef, Paul Blange, and headwaiter in the kitchen to help her dream up the new dessert. Scanning the kitchen and spying bananas, she thought of a simple dessert her mother had made by splitting the yellow fruit and sauteing the halves with butter and brown sugar. To jazz it up, she said in her memoir, they poured rum and banana liqueur on top, setting the mixture on fire at tableside, tossing in cinnamon to make it sparkle and serving the concoction over vanilla ice cream. They called it “bananas Foster.” A classic was born. “

Ella Brennan and Ti Adelaide Martin in “Miss Ella of Commander’s Palace” 

…It would definitely impress me!!!

Banana Foster memories

I did not eat banana foster as a child. But I do remember in my childhood having crepes for desert as a weekend thing. And one of our favorites was a crepe suzzette. Which is a similar version of this but with orange. The crepe would be covered with orange juice and some Grand Marnier liquor and set on fire. Ohhh me and my brother loved to watch the show.

Another of our typical desserts at home would be butter fried bananas sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon.

So you can see…Banana Foster is like an amazing mix of these. I just fell in love the first time I tried it. And every time I make it I need to control myself so there is something left for other people.

Tips and Notes

• Bananas – depending on what you are using this for you can cut the bananas in different ways. If you are having a classic banana foster with ice cream you can half it lengthwise, if using for cupcakes or cakes you can slice it not very thin. I don’t advise cutting it too small cause it will probably disappear into the caramel and turn everything into a paste. If you do it, reduce the caramelization time to prevent this.

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• Rum – as you know you should use to cook what you like to drink. This means that just because you’re cooking you shouldn’t use the cheapest wines or liquors. In this case if you have a nice old rum at home I advise using it. The caramelized flavors of the rum will make this even better.
• Sugar – As you can see in this image the sugar is very dark. Because it’s COCONUT SUGAR. I recently bought it and decided to try. I wasn’t sure on the sweetness level of it but it turned out great. It’s much healthier for you and with this recipe it makes it even more flavored. And it doesn’t have any flavor.
• Ice cream – I did my own banana ice cream for this. It’s super healthy and tastes amazing. You can use any flavor you want.

Just endulge…

Have you ever tried Banana Foster with coconut sugar? Or coconut sugar in other desserts? Tell me all about it. I’m super curious to try it on everything 🙂