Recipe: Flaky Caramelized Banana Tart
There was a blizzard roaring down on Colorado this week; some people might find this surprising, considering it’s the middle of April…but in Colorado, this really is just spring (flowers really don’t stand a chance here). I wanted to bake something to warm up during this snowstorm, and my thoughts immediately went to this tart–it’s got toasty spices, a creamy sweetness from the banana, and a flaky, buttery crust (plus, it’s an awesome way to use up old bananas!). In other words, it’s the ideal cloudy-day dessert; eating this while watching snow tumble around outside was profoundly comforting!
This tart is also a perfect way to practice your lamination skills (that’s the process of creating layers in dough, like in puff pastry); I’ve got a useful step-by-step guide with a plethora of helpful tips and tricks about how to laminate. I would really recommend reading that if you’ve never laminated before…it’ll save you some frustration while making this! Plus, learning this skill opens up the door to soooo many delicious French pastries…like croissants (who can say no to a warm croissant…it’s practically drugs!Should croissants be illegal?).
The crust is essentially a homemade puff pastry; I have instructions in the recipe how to make it, so don’t fret! However, if you really want something quick, you are welcome to use store-bought puff pastry. Just know that the results won’t be quite as good…that might just be my slightly snooty French pastry brain speaking though 🙂
There are ways to save some time and make planning easier though; the crust can be made up to three days ahead of time and laminated up to two days ahead. Alternatively, you can freeze the laminated dough and thaw it whenever you need it. The actual filling and baking part of the recipe is relatively quick and easy, so if you wanted to make this recipe for a party or other special occasion, doing the crust ahead could make things less stressful.
The tart should really be eaten fresh from the oven–it’s downright addictive when warm! I brought part of this tart to my mom to try, and I figured the piece would be too much for her to keep (it was about a third of the tart!); she assured me she would find a way to eat it, though 🙂 Apparently, she ate the entire section in one sitting! So I’m telling you…this tart is actually a dangerous weapon of delicious, buttery, spiced goodness and should be handled with care.
Here’s the mouth-watering recipe in all of it’s glory:
Flaky Caramelized Banana Tart
Ingredients
For the Pastry:
- 240 g AP Flour This is around 1 3/4 cups; I would weigh to be sure.
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 50 g butter, chilled and cubed
- 2/3 cup cold water You can use some ice to chill the water; just make sure to not get any ice into the pastry!
- 113 grams European butter (at least 82 percent fat) American butter will make the lamination process more difficult, although you can use it. I recommend Plugra or President butter for this (both are French but can be found in normal grocery stores).
For the Filling:
- zest and juice of two oranges
- 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp. ground allspice
- 3-4 medium, overripe bananas
For the Egg wash:
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp. water
Ground cinnamon, for garnish
Instructions
- NOTE: First, because this is basically a puff pastry, I would recommend you look over the Lamination guide I have posted; it will help to clarify a lot of the details involved with creating layers in pastry!
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Using your fingers or a pastry cutter, work in the chilled butter cubes until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs–it will look a bit like coarse sand. TIP: You can also do this part by using a food processor; just pulse in the butter until it looks like the right texture. Just make sure to not overmix it into a paste!
- Gradually add the cold water into the flour mixture, using a fork or butter knife in a cutting action to make a dough. You might not need all of the water–the dough should be soft but not too sticky. When it starts coming together, lightly flour your counter and knead the dough until smooth. It doesn’t need to be kneaded too much, as we don’t want a really tough, chewy pastry–just knead it until it looks like a smooth dough.
- Form the dough into a disk and let it chill in the fridge for at least one hour. You can also make the dough the day before and let it chill overnight, for convenience.
- Once the dough has chilled, it’s time to start the lamination process. First, we’ll make the butter block. Cut your butter into 1/4 inch-thick pieces, lengthwise, and form a small square about 4 in x 4 in on a sheet of parchment. Any scraps can be added on top of the square.
- Place another sheet of parchment on top of the butter. Using a French rolling pin, preferably, (with tapered ends) pound out the butter into a square about 6 in x 6 in; the seams shouldn’t show anymore. It’s okay if the square has uneven edges–we’ll deal with those shortly. NOTE: I talk about this in my lamination guide more thoroughly, but the reason we pound (instead of roll) with the rolling pin (should really be called a pounding pin here…) is because pounding helps lengthen the butter without softening it up too much. The most important rule for lamination is (after all) keeping things COLD!
- Using a knife, cut off the uneven edges and add them on top of the butter square. The square will probably be around 5 in x 5 in now.
- With the rolling pin, lightly pound in the scraps of butter without changing the size of the square too much. If some edges get a bit off, you can use your hands to gently straighten them. Set the square in the fridge for now.
- Get out your chilled dough disk and place it on a lightly floured surface. Pound the dough out into a square about 9 in x 9 in (it should be a little larger than your butter square).
- Place your butter block in the center of the dough square, with the butter block’s corners facing towards you (it will look offset from the square, in a diamond shape).
- Fold the corners of the dough square into the butter block, until the butter is completely enveloped in the dough. Make sure to leave no air pockets when doing this–we want the dough to hit the edge of the butter. This part will look like a present…just filled with butter 🙂
- Flip the square over, so the seam-side is on the counter. Using your rolling pin, pound out the dough (working away from you–the dough will be vertically lengthened) to a rectangle about 22 inches long. The length and width don’t have to be exact–you just want to make sure the dough thickness is around 1/8 inch. As you pound, you can also roll the dough when you want to smooth out the pounding indents; just make sure that the majority of the lengthening is done with a pounding motion. NOTE: You want to always lengthen away from your body, as this will help the dough not fold over onto itself. I like to pound one half, and then turn the dough 180 degrees and pound the other half, until a long enough rectangle has formed. If butter starts poking through the dough and getting soft, place the dough into the fridge for 15-20 minutes to chill before continuing.
- Once the dough has been lengthened adequately, fold in one third of the dough to the center. Brush off any excess flour from the dough.
- Now finish the process by folding the other part of the dough on top of the folded thrid, leaving no part uncovered (you want the last third to fully cover the first two thirds).
- Repeat this entire process (re-lengthening the folded square and folding, in the same way, again). Place dough into fridge for 20-30 minutes to rest and chill.
- We’re going to do this whole sequence twice more. To make it easier, here is an easy-to-follow table:
1. Lengthen rectangle from original dough square, fold. 2. Lengthen folded square and fold again. 3. Rest dough in fridge 20 minutes5. Lengthen folded square and fold again.6. Again, lengthen the folded square and do another fold. 7. Rest dough in fridge 20 minutes. 8. Lengthen folded square and fold again. 9. One last time, lengthen the folded square and re-fold. - Place the laminated pastry dough into the fridge and let it chill while we prepare the filling. If desired, you can laminate the day before you plan on baking the tart and just pull it from the fridge the day you need it.
- To make the syrup for the filling, place orange juice and zest, sugar, and spices into a small saucepan on medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and then let simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. Pour into a jar or bowl and let cool for 10 minutes before using. Side note: the smell of this is absolutely AMAZING…if you want your house to smell good for guests, I would honestly recommend making this tart (or just the syrup…but you should really make the tart too…)!
- Slice the bananas in half lengthwise and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Take the pastry dough out of the fridge and set it down on a lightly floured surface. Using your rolling pin, pound and roll it into a rectangle 10 in x 12 in. The dough will be about 1/2 inch thick.
- Using a knife or pizza roller, cut off 3/4 inch strips from each side.
- Brush water along the sides of the rectangle and then stick each strip on top of the according edge. It will look like a dough picture frame (can they make these in real life…actually that could be a bad idea since I would probably eat all my picture frames…). TIP: At this point, I would move the rectangle onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. It will be much harder to move it later with the filling inside.
- Brush a thin layer of the syrup across the inside of the dough frame.
- Place the bananas, working from top to bottom, inside the dough frame, trying to not leave much space between the bananas. Brush the bananas with more of the syrup (you’ll probably end up using about 1/2 the syrup at this point).
- Make the egg wash by whisking together the egg and water. Brush the egg wash along the frame. Then brush more of the syrup on top of the frame.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes on a parchment-lined baking sheet, until the pastry is golden and puffed.
- Brush the tart with the remaining syrup and top with cinnamon (if using). Let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving (this part is the hardest…why must delicious food be so complicated???).
- Eat…eat…and then, eat some more 🙂
Notes
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Happy baking everyone!
