Caramelized Banana Pudding Food

CARAMELIZED BANANA PUDDING

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add the half-and-half and egg yolks, and whisk to combine. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and pudding-like, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 2 tablespoons butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
• In a large saucepan or skillet over medium heat, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Add bananas, brown sugar, cinnamon and remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla. Cook, stirring frequently, until well combined, about 2 minutes.
• Layer half the vanilla wafers in a 9-by-13 baking or trifle dish. Top with half the caramelized bananas then half the pudding. Repeat procedure with remaining wafers, bananas and pudding. Chill for 4 to 6 hours, or up to overnight. Garnish with crumbled vanilla wafers and sprinkle with additional cinnamon before serving. Serve with unsweetened whipped cream, if using.

SALTED CARAMEL-BANANA BREAD PUDDING

Steps:

• Make the caramel: Combine the sugar and 1/4 cup water in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring just until the sugar dissolves. Cook, gently swirling the pan but not stirring, until amber, about 10 minutes. Brush any sugar crystals off the side of the pan with a wet pastry brush. Remove from the heat and carefully whisk in the butter, heavy cream, bourbon, lemon juice and kosher salt (the mixture will bubble). Pour into a bowl and set aside.
• Make the bread pudding: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Spread the bread cubes on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until dry and golden, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely.
• Whisk the eggs, sugar and kosher salt in a large bowl, then whisk in the milk, heavy cream and vanilla until smooth. Fold in the toasted bread and the banana slices. Transfer half of the mixture to the prepared baking dish and spread in an even layer. Drizzle with 1/2 cup of the caramel, then top with the remaining bread mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight. Cover and refrigerate the remaining caramel until ready to serve.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Sprinkle the bread pudding with sea salt and bake until golden brown and set, about 1 hour, 15 minutes. Warm the remaining caramel and drizzle on top.

BANANA-CARAMEL PUDDING

Steps:

• To make the pudding:
• Whisk the eggs with the vanilla in a large bowl and set aside. Bring the milk, heavy cream, sugar, and salt to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Turn off the heat and whisk a little of the hot liquid into the egg mixture. Continue adding more hot milk until the eggs are tempered and the bottom of the bowl is warm to the touch and then return the egg mixture to the saucepan with the remaining milk. Turn the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or whisk, until the pudding thickens and you can draw a clear line through the custard on the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes (don't let the custard boil--this will cause the eggs to curdle). Pour the custard through a medium sieve and into a medium bowl. Whisk to cool slightly, cover flush with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until it is completely cool, about 2 hours.
• To make the caramel sauce:
• Microwave together the butter, heavy cream, and salt until the butter is melted (or melt the butter with the cream and salt in a small saucepan). Whisk to combine and set aside. Place the sugar and lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Melt the sugar over medium-high heat, swirling the pan occasionally to evenly distribute the heat, until the sugar is a deep nutty brown and smells bittersweet, 10 to 12 minutes. Pour in the butter mixture (be careful-the sauce will hiss and bubble up) and then place the mixture back over medium-high heat to return it to a boil. Turn off the heat and set the saucepan aside to let the caramel cool to room temperature, 1 to 2 hours.
• To make the whipped cream:
• Place the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla (if using a vanilla bean, split the pod and scrape out the seeds, adding them to the cream; save the pod and place it in a jar of sugar to infuse it with vanilla flavor) in the bowl of a stand mixer (or large bowl if using a hand mixer) and whip it on medium speed until it is frothy. Increase the speed to medium-high and whip until you get stiff peaks. Refrigerate until you're ready to assemble the pudding.
• To assemble:
• Peel and thinly slice the bananas and set aside (wait to slice the bananas until you're ready to assemble the dish, otherwise, they'll brown). Evenly spread 1 cup whipped cream over the bottom of a large trifle dish or punch bowl. Top with a layer of bananas and 1 cup/240 ml pudding. Place about 20 wafers in a flat layer on top of the pudding and evenly drizzle 1/2 cup/120 ml caramel over the wafers. Repeat the layering process three times beginning with the whipped cream, followed by some sliced bananas, pudding, wafers, and caramel. Finish the pudding with a final layer of whipped cream (you should have about 1 cup remaining after repeating four layers), cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight. Serve in dessert bowls.

CARAMELIZED BANANA PUDDING

Steps:

• 1. Cook first 3 ingredients in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly, 2 to 3 minutes or until bubbly. Add bananas; cook 2 to 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat.
• 2. Whisk together 3/4 cup granulated sugar, next 3 ingredients, and 4 egg yolks in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, 8 to 10 minutes or until a pudding-like thickness. (Mixture will just begin to bubble and will hold soft peaks when whisk is lifted.) Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla.
• 3. Divide half of banana mixture, pudding, and wafers among 8 (1-cup) ramekins or ovenproof glass dishes. Layer with remaining banana mixture, pudding, and vanilla wafers. ( I put 3 vanilla wafers on the bottom and 2 to 3 on the top sides.)
• 4. Beat 4 egg whites at high speed with an electric mixer until foamy. Add remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 Tbsp. at a time, beating until stiff peaks form and sugar dissolves (2 to 4 minutes). Spread meringue over ramekins. Place ramekins on a baking sheet.
• 5. Bake at 325° for 15 to 20 minutes or until meringue is golden. Let cool on a wire rack 30 minutes.
• 6. For the best flavor, choose firm, ripe bananas with brown speckles.

CARAMEL-BANANA BREAD PUDDINGS

Steps:

• Preheat broiler. Butter eight 3/4-cup ramekins. Mix caramel sauce and 1/4 teaspoon sea salt in small bowl. Spoon 1 generous tablespoon caramel into each ramekin. Place bread on rimmed baking sheet. Spread 1 generous tablespoon caramel over each bread slice. Broil until caramel is bubbling and slightly darker, watching to avoid burning, 1 to 2 minutes. Cool.
• Cut each bread slice into 6 squares, for 48 pieces total. Set 1 banana slice on each bread square. Arrange 6 banana-topped bread squares standing on edge, side by side in each prepared ramekin, fitting snugly. Whisk eggs, half and half, milk, 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, vanilla, and 1/8 teaspoon sea salt in medium bowl. Pour enough custard into each ramekin to reach top. Let stand until bread absorbs some of custard, about 30 minutes. Reserve any remaining custard.
• Meanwhile, position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 400°F. Pour remaining custard into ramekins. Brush exposed bread pieces with melted butter. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Set ramekins in large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into pan to come halfway up sides of ramekins. Bake puddings until set and knife inserted into custard comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Remove from pan; cool. DO AHEAD: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.
• Serve bread puddings warm or at room temperature.

CARAMELIZED BANANA CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
• Place the pecans in the oven and toast them for about 8 minutes. Check frequently because they will burn easily; set aside. Leave oven on.
• Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar and cook, stirring frequently, until melted. Add the sliced bananas and continue cooking until the bananas are caramelized and soft enough to be mashed with the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and set aside. If using, stir in the rum.
• Combine the fat-free cream cheese, light cream cheese and 3/4 cup of the sugar in a large bowl and mix until completely blended. Add the sour cream, egg and egg whites and mix well. Add the caramelized banana mixture and again mix well.
• Put the remaining tablespoon of butter, remaining 1/4 cup sugar and toasted pecans in a food processor fitted with a metal blade.
• Grind until the consistency of fine gravel and put the mixture in the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan. Pack it down firmly using the palm of your hand.
• Pour the filling mixture over the crust.
• Place the pan in a large pan and add water to a depth of 2 inches.
• Bake in the preheated oven for about 1-1/2 hours, or until firm to the touch.

CARAMEL BANANA BOURBON BREAD PUDDING

Steps:

• Caramelize walnuts.
• Take the walnuts and put them in a large skillet and toast on med heat till they brown a little. Then add 2 tablespoons of butter,stirring to coat nuts. Then add 1/2 cup brown sugar and cocoa powder stirring again to caramelize sugar and coat nuts. Then spread nuts over cookie sheet with wax paper and cool.
• Bread pudding: Preheat oven to 200°F.
• Cube bread into equal size cubes and spread onto cookie sheet and bake until dry and crisp(not brown) about 10-15 minutes then bump up temperature to 350°F Then peel and cut bananas in bite size pieces and sauté in large non-stick pan with 2 tablespoons butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar and 2 tablespoons bourbon till bananas are well caramelized and bourbon cooked off. Put 3 cups heavy cream in sauce pan with vanilla bean (split and scraped) and simmer over medium heat till bubbles form around rim of pan (do not boil) then remove from heat.
• Whisk the eggs together with the 1/2 cup sugar until it is well incorporated. Then temper the egg with the warm cream adding small amounts at first until the egg and cream come together and egg warms up,then remaining cream can be added and vanilla bean removed finishing the custard. Now take dried cubes of bread add to custard and allow them to soak up most of custard.
• Now take the custard soaked bread, caramelized nuts, and bananas and layer them into large casserole dish( bread then bananas then nuts, repeat) Then put into water bath. Put into preheated oven for about 30-45 minutes till custard looks set wiggles as one mass not sloshy. You can add a little brown sugar to top to crisp and caramelize it.
• Bourbon Brown Sugar Carmel Sauce: Add remaining brown sugar, butter and bourbon to a large non-stick skillet and allow to cook for 10-15 minutes on medium heat. The ingredients should be combined and bourbon cooked off and it may look granular. Now remove from heat and stir in remaining cream slowly being careful not to splash. Once cream is incorporated return to med-low heat and allow to simmer another 5-10 minutes stirring occasionally. Once cooled store and add to top of pudding or ice cream.

CARAMELIZED BANANA PUDDING

Steps:

• 1. Heat oven to 450. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine 1/4 c sugar and 1/2 t cinnamon in shallow dish. Slice bananas lengthwise, and rub in cinnamon-sugar mix. Place bananas on baking sheet. Bake 15-20 min, discard any liquid accumulated. While bananas are baking, prepare pudding.
• 2. Whisk remaining 1/2 c sugar, 1/2 t cinnamon, corn starch, and salt in heavy pot. Slowly whisk in heavy cream (avoid lumps!). Cook over medium heat 7-10 min or until thick enough to hold a line drawn on back of spoon. Add butter and vanilla extract to pudding. Mash 1 1/2 halves baked bananas and add to pudding. Cover with plastic wrap and store in fridge 45 min to 1 hour.
• 3. Layer an 8x8 pan with wafers, 5 1/2 banana halves, top with 1/3 pudding. Repeat layers two more times ending with pudding. Cover and chill