Easy Banana Crème Brûlée Food

BANANA CREME BRULEE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Over medium heat, melt the butter in a saute pan. Add the bananas, and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of white sugar. Stir well to blend the sugar and butter. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. The bananas should be lightly caramelized. Mash the bananas with the back of a wooden spoon. Add the lemon juice to the mixture, raise the heat to high, add the brandy, and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat, divide among 6 wide, shallow creme brulee dishes, and let cool. Place the heavy cream in a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise, and scrape the seeds into the cream with the tip of a knife. Add the scraped-out vanilla bean, and bring the cream just to a boil, then remove from heat. Reserve. Place the egg yolks and 5 tablespoons of white sugar in the top of a double boiler. Whisk them together, then stir over simmering water until the mixture becomes fairly thick (about 15 minutes). Strain the reserved cream into eggs, and stir the mixture over simmering water for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, and ladle over the cooled banana puree in the 6 dishes. Place the dishes in a roasting pan, and fill the pan with enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the dishes. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Remove the dishes from the pan, and chill them for at least 3 hours.
• When you are ready to serve, sprinkle 2 teaspoons of light brown sugar over each dish, distributing evenly. Place the dishes on a bed of cracked ice in a roasting pan, and position the pan under a broiler until the sugar caramelizes. Watch carefully, and move the dishes around so the sugar browns evenly but doesn't char. Remove and serve while the crust is still hot.

BANANA BRULéE

Steps:

• To make the bananas brulée, quarter the bananas lengthwise (peel on) and rub into sugar to coat thoroughly.
• Remove peel and place on cooling rack over several layers of foil. (Don't try this on your dining room table.).
• Don your safety goggles and fire up your torch. Hold the torch so that the very tip of the flame barely touches the banana, and move quickly back and forth until the sugar melts, turns brown, and bubbles. As soon as it looks like caramel, move on. You know you've got it down when a solid, glasslike sheet of gold (no graininess) has formed on the banana.

BANANA CREME BRULEE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Have pot of boiling water ready.
• Peel 1 of the bananas and cut in thirds. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream, cut banana and the 1/4 cup sugar.
• Cook, stirring, until steam rises, 4 to 5 minutes. Let stand 10 to 15 minutes.
• In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and vanilla until blended.
• Strain the cream through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl; discard the cooked banana. Pour the cream into the yolks, a little at a time, stirring constantly until smooth; divide among four 6-oz. ramekins.
• Line a 3-inch-deep baking pan with a kitchen towel, place the ramekins in the pan and add boiling water to fill the pan halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover loosely with foil and bake until set, 30 to 35 minutes.
• Remove the ramekins from the pan, cool to room temperature and refrigerate 2 to 3 hours.
• Peel the remaining banana and slice crosswise into slices 1/8 inch thick. Arrange 7 or 8 slices over the top of each crème brûlée and sprinkle 2 teaspoons sugar evenly over each surface.
• With a kitchen torch, move the flame continuously in small circles over the surface until the sugar melts and lightly browns. Serve immediately.

HOT BANANA CRèME BRûLéE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Break 1 banana into pieces and purée in a blender with lemon juice, granulated sugar, and yolks until smooth. In a very small saucepan heat cream over moderate heat until hot and add banana mixture, stirring until combined well. Divide mixture between two 2/3-cup ramekins. Put ramekins in a metal baking pan and fill pan with enough boiling-hot water to reach halfway up sides of ramekins. Put pan in middle of oven and lay a sheet of foil over each ramekin. Bake custards until set, about 30 minutes.
• Set broiler rack so that custard tops will be 1 1/2 to 2 inches from heat and change oven setting to broil. Alternatively, have ready a blowtorch.
• Just before serving, very thinly slice remaining banana and arrange slices, overlapping them, over each custard. Sprinkle turbinado sugar evenly over bananas and heat under broiler (or with blowtorch, moving flame evenly back and forth just over sugar) until sugar is melted and caramelized.

BANANA CREME BRULEE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300. Prepare some boiling water.
• In a saucepan over medium heat, combine cream, banana puree and 2 T. sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally until small bubbles appear around edges of pan. Set aside.
• In a bowl, beat egg yolks and vanilla until smooth and light. Pour hot cream mixture into egg yolks, a little at a time, beating continuously until well blended. Strain mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl. Divide mixture among 4 ramekins.
• Arrange ramekins in a baking pan and place on middle shelf of preheated oven. Fill pan with boiling water to halfway up sides of ramekins. Cover pan loosely with aluminum foil. Bake until custard is just set, about 25 minutes. (this took an additional 9 minutes for mine, as I have deeper ramekins) Chill 2-3 hours.
• Slice bananas horizontally into 1/2" slices and arrange on top of chilled creme brulees. Sprinkle remaining sugar over tops of bananas. With cooking torch, move flame econtinuously over the surface of the ramekins, in a circular motion until sugar melts and becomes golden brown and bubbly. (this is where I failed. I was afraid to add the entire 1/3 cup sugar, so didn't get enough carmelized effect) Serve immediately.