Bananas Foster

Bananas Foster

Bananas Foster is a dessert made of bananas, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, dark rum and banana liqueur.  These ingredients are cooked down, ignited and poured over vanilla ice cream.  When the hot caramel-like sauce hits cold icecream, a small crisp caramel crust is created.  Originating from New Orleans, Louisiana in 1951 and named after Richard Foster, a crime commissioner, it remains a popular dessert today.

Enough about that.  I first had this somewhere around 2001 or 2002.  Tina, who had drawn the dessert card, brought it to Dinner Club at my house and I remember standing in my kitchen wondering what in the world is she making and what is she going to do with that lighter??  Confident in her culinary skill with bananas and recipe in hand she was waving it around and telling everyone how great it was and how much they were going to love it.   I admit to thinking my friend must've gone bizerk if she was igniting anything in my tiny, little, table-for-one kitchen, but she was right.  We all loved it.  I'm trying to remember exactly what the Dinner Club theme was that night, but it really doesn't matter.  Whether you are cooking this dessert up in celebration of Mardi Gras or looking for a warm dessert to create a happy ending to a fall or winter meal, you will just have to try this.  Yes, I know.  There's four tablespoons of butter.  Get over it.  We're really cooking here!

Bananas Foster

Ingredients

4 T. butter

1/2 C. brown sugar

2 bananas sliced

1/2 t. cinnamon

1 T. banana liqueur

1/4 C. dark rum

Directions

In a skillet, add the butter and brown sugar over medium heat and stir often until butter is melted.  Add cinnamon and stir until combined.  Add bananas and cook until carmelized on both sides.  *Carefully remove pan from heat, add banana liqueur and rum and use a long lighter to ignite.  Return to the heat to burn off the alcohol.  Stir one last time and pour over vanilla ice cream.  Let set for a moment and serve.  Bananas Foster is such a special treat!

*Cook's Tip:  Alcohol is extremely flammable.  Use caution when igniting your sauce. Be sure to hold the pan away from you and others and do not lean over it.  Now read the Cook's Tip over again and take it seriously.  No goofing around.