Puffed Bananas and Caramel

I'mPat's Note:

From James Reeson Alive and Cooking. A good way to use up scraps of puff pastry, I've listed 1/2 sheet of puff pastry cut into strips but James used some scraps that he had frozen from other recipes and thawed them. Times are estimated. Please also note that in Australia pre-rolled pastry sheets are about 22/23 cm square.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 4 bananas
• 1/2 sheet puff pastry (cut into strips)
• icing sugar

Caramel Sauce

• 125 g unsalted butter (sweet butter)
• 125 g caster sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. Lay out pastry trimmings if using or cut strips from the 1/2 sheet.
3. Place the banana down on top of pastry.
4. Dust with icing sugar, then wrap the pastry around the length of the banana.
5. Bake in pre-heated for 10 to 15 minutes.
6. Caramel Sauce - in a saucepan, melt the butter and add the sugar and continue to stir until caramel consistency is achieved.

Reviews

[Chef TraceyMae]

I made this for the September 2010 Aussie/Kiwi Swap. This was my first successful use of phyllo dough. So, thank you for sharing this recipe. The banana was warm and melty. I unfortunately burned the caramel, so had to use store-bought. I will make this again!

[MarthaStewartWanabe]

Yum, yum, yum! This dessert is amazingly simple and delicious. Our family loves warm bananas, so it seems this recipe was destined for us. The only modification I made to the recipe was omitting the icing sugar, as I felt the natural sweetness of the bananas was just right. The caramel sauce was the perfect accompaniment. I served each warm, puffed banana with caramel sauce artfully drizzled atop with a dollop of whipped cream on the side. Delicious! DH, DD and MIL all give their approval... and of course me too! (Made for AUS/NZ Recipe Swap #41)

[Pink_Diamond]

I made this with phyllo dough the first time as I had no puff pastry. I then made it with puff pastry as the recipe called for and both were very tasty. Will make again, both ways ;)