This week's decadent
Double Chocolate Banana Tart provided the ultimate sweet finale to the Mother's Day dinner I prepared for mom. Of course, I could not resist the
bonne idée - slathering a layer of Nutella over the chocolaty, crumbly shortbread crust before adding the caramelized bananas and generous layer of dark chocolate ganache. And, since both Nutella and chocolate pair so well with bananas, I followed Dorie's advice and finished the top of the tart with a layer of sliced bananas brushed with warm apricot jam.
Next time, I will omit the top layer of bananas and spoon in a thicker layer of caramelized bananas to snuggle under the blanket of heavenly ganache, more along the lines of this
Warm Chocolate & Banana Tart over at
Zen Can Cook. Read closely and you'll notice that Pierre Hermé, master Parisian pastry chef, leaves out Nutella, but slips slivers of habanero chile and rum macerated raisins in with the caramelized bananas. A touch of heat, a few boozy raisins, and the best French chocolate you can find...I can assure you I won't be missing that top layer of bananas.
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| Valrhona chocolate is among the best French chocolate you can find |
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| Valrhona + Heavy Cream + Butter = Silky gananche |
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| Layer of caramelized bananas |
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| Finished Tart |
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| So much for the healthy dinner served earlier |
After scraping the bananas off the leftover wedge of tart, I've returned to the refrigerator several times, cutting off just a tiny wedge to satisfy the slightest chocolate craving. I tried to be discreet, but that residual film of chocolate left on the corner of my mouth always gave it away - similar to Trapper's failed attempt to hide the evidence.
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| What? |
French Fridays with Dorie is an online cooking group, dedicated to Dorie Greenspan‘s newest book
Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours. As members of the group, we have purchased the cookbook and cook along as much as we can. There is a new recipe each week, and we post about that recipe on Friday. We are asked to refrain from posting the actual recipes on our blog. The book is filled with stunning photography, and personal stories about each recipe, which makes it that much more intriguing. I highly recommend adding it to your cookbook collection if you haven't already!
*Full Disclosure: I am a member of Amazon Affiliates and receive an extremely small commission if you link to Amazon from There's a Newf in My Soup and purchase this fabulous cookbook.
I love chilis with my chocolate - far more than banana. That is a great idea & I would consider trading out as well.
ReplyDeleteThe caramelized bananas were the best part, I thought. I definitely wish there were more of them.
Lovely job!
Just beautiful! How funny, I removed the fresh bananas from the top of the remainder of my tart, too. They just were't my favorit & I was worried a
ReplyDeleteI think if I tried the chillis and macerated raisins, we
ReplyDeletewould all be in seventh heaven. Yours look fantastic.
I, too, did the nutella version and it was great. Hubby and I both enjoyed it.
Love the way your tart looks…so pretty in the long tart pan! I’m sure that this would be wonderful with just the caramelized bananas and the ganache…Yum! I have been nibbling on mine, too!
ReplyDeleteI'll leave all the raw bananas next time too. Love the idea of boozy raisins! Please make it and report back! :)
ReplyDeleteYour tart looks great though. I love that pan!
I honestly have nothing to add this week. I made EXACTLY the same combination as you and had EXACTLY the same thoughts about how I would have preferred it (namely, more caramelized bananas, less fresh). Great minds. Or maybe it's Great Tastebuds. Whatever.
ReplyDeleteThis needed much more of the caramelized banana layer. Now that you mention it, I think the raw bananas could be left off completely...
ReplyDeleteThe other twists you mentioned also sound intriguing.