Bananas Foster

If you're anything like me, then you go to the grocery store and see a great deal on fruit and think "YES! i LOVE (insert fruit here)! I should buy 10!"...without realizing that there's no way in the world that you can possibly eat all 10 of those (whatever fruit was on sale) before they begin to take a turn for the worst. Let's be honest, the reason they are on sale in the first place is to get them off the shelves because they have been there for a while and will soon be overripe [rotten]. It happens all the time and I end up throwing the fruit out because it just gets too old before I can eat it...except for one very magical fruit....

BANANAS

Bananas are the one fruit that are actually BETTER to COOK/BAKE with when they are overripe [nice and mushy and brown]. They don't have a rotten taste, they just have an awful texture that is perfect to use in making banana pancakes, banana bread, and BANANAS FOSTER GANACHE. Yes, that's right. I had left over caramel from the Caramel Apple Truffles and a sad brown banana in the corner of the kitchen, so i mixed them together and made delicious white chocolate ganache that isn't overly sweet and has a very strong banana flavor! This ganache is SUPER EASY, only 3 ingredients! I cut them into triangles and dipped them in dark chocolate, making them even better. 

 

For the liquid in this ganache, is actually ended up only using the banana and caramel mixture, so I don't know if this would really qualify as a cream/water/butter ganache...there is a small amount of cream and butter in the caramel, but that does not qualify it for a cream or butter ganache. Although, the ganache did turn out softer than I had hoped, so I had to cut, carefully separate the pieces and then allow it to crystallize overnight, to kind of dry out the sides so it would be firm enough to dip. With these, because they were so soft, I also bottomed the ganache. Bottoming is when you spread a VERY THIN layer of tempered chocolate onto the bottom of the ganache, giving it more stability to be dipped [this way the toothpick wont just slide through the ganache].

You can easily remedy this by adding more white chocolate to the ganache, but I really like the strong banana flavor that the ganache has. So for now, here is the recipe as is!

Banana's Foster Ganache

First you need to make your caramel banana base:

RIPE banana: 150g [1 med. banana]

Caramel sauce: 50g [click here for caramel recipe - or use your own!]

1. Mash the banana with a fork until completely broken down into mush [shouldn't take long if it is overly ripe]

2. Mix caramel sauce in. Voila

 

GANACHE TIME

Caramel Banana Base: 100g

White Chocolate: 250g

1. Temper your white chocolate

2. Bring your caramel banana base to a boil, and pour over your white chocolate.

3. Stir until homogenous and then pour into your "frame" [I use large deep dish paper plates.

Allow to setup for at least 2 hours, then bottom them with tempered dark chocolate and cut into 1" squares.

Carefully separate the squares and cut on the diagonal to create triangles.

 

Allow the cut ganache to harden a little more [overnight would be ideal]. When ready, dip in tempered dark chocolate. To garnish these candies, I chose to score the tops and make diagonal lines by placing my toothpick flat against the top, lifting slightly, and then repeating the process across the triangle top.

When done properly it creates a beautiful wave pattern, but be careful. If you place your toothpick down too late, the chocolate will be too firm and you will just make ugly stick lines in the chocolate. It takes practice, but once you start trying, you will understand the process, and it becomes easier every time.