November in Texas, it turns out, makes up for August in Texas. It's warm and sunny every day, as opposed to infernal and sunny every day. Trees are still green; birds are arriving from the north; I'm not even close to thinking about coats and scarves. All of this is wonderful, and I love it, but it means I have no business making autumnal, comforting things like these banana-maple upside-down puddings. But it's just that this time last year I was in chilly New Hampshire, walking in the turning woods and buying maple syrup from the farmer's market and roasting things and drinking tea, and I sort of miss it.
So here are some autumnal/fallish puddings for you, sweet with caramelised maple syrup but ever so slightly summery with bananas. Maple syrup and bananas are so extraordinarily tasty together, but then, maple syrup is extraordinarily tasty with everything.
Banana Maple Upside-Down Puddings
adapted from Australian Gourmet Traveller
Serves 6
200 ml maple syrup
160g soft butter
80ml (1/3 cup) pouring cream (heavy cream)
3 ripe bananas, peeled
1 tsp lemon juice
220g (1 cup) raw caster sugar (or just raw sugar)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
250g plain flour
1 tsp bi-carbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
80ml (1/3 cup) milk
Cook maple syrup in a saucepan over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes or until starting to caramelise, add 35g butter and all the cream and swirl to combine. Pour 2 tbsp of maple-caramel into bases of six 1-cup capacity metal darioles, swirling to coat sides slightly and reserving remaining caramel mixture. Thinly slice 1 banana widthways, layer slices over caramel and set aside.
Preheat oven to 160°C / 320°F. Using a fork, coarsely mash remaining bananas with lemon juice, to yield 3/4 cup, and set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat remaining butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add eggs, mashed banana and vanilla extract and beat to combine. Sieve over flour, bi-carbonate of soda and cinnamon, stir to combine, add milk and mix until smooth.
Divide pudding mixture into moulds to 1.5cm below rims (there may be a little mixture left over), smoothing tops, and bake for 20-25 minutes or until risen and firm to the touch. Unmould immediately onto serving plates, drizzle over reserved maple-caramel and serve with double cream or ice cream.
15 comments:
My Mother-in-law was sighing over pudding recipes just this afternoon. She asked that I make one soon. This may be just the thing.
When it comes to something as delicious as this, there is no reason to focus on the season so much. Sometimes, what's good is just good no matter when you eat it. I absolutely must try this soon, I love the maple/banana combination. Could these be made in a muffin tins and flipped out all at once or do they tend to be very messy and leaky?
Gorgeous! This is interesting.. I'm sure you could do something like this with berries as well.. Never heard of a pastry like this before
These look absolutely insane!!! I believe I will have to make this and eat with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream...
Oh how nice! I love the photo!
Looks delicious. I can't wait to try these.
Hi Frenchie - I'm not sure how well these would work without individual moulds, but it may be worth a try. Part of the pleasure is all the delicious sauce that runs out on each plate when you overturn them - I think that would make it hard to deal with a whole tray full. Still, they'd taste delicious anyway, and you could always use cook them with a little less caramel, and spoon the rest over the top once they're on the plate.
Maple caramelized banana cakes sound so good!
Hello, love the site and these look so good. Any idea where I can get those molds? I've searced the internet and can't come up with anything.
Hi Michelle! I was really lucky to find these individual pudding molds incredibly cheaply at an antique store I used to live near in New Hampshire. This is the closest thing I could find online: http://www.kitchenworksinc.com/itemDetail/28562/3%22-TINNED-STEEL-OVAL-TIMBALE-MOLD
Thank you so much! I'm obsessed about those molds! LOL I'll get them and see how they do. My husband grew up NH - Bartlett, NH to be specific. I'm hoping we get to take a trip there in May. I'm born and raised a Texan. We live in the Dallas area. Thanks again. :)
I got the molds today from the link posted and wow, they are tiny. Yours have to be bigger. Can you tell me the dimensions? Thank you.
Ok - I couldn't wait anymore. LOL I made them using my 7 oz ramekins. They are really delicious. I had to bake for about 40 minutes and didn't get the texture it looks like the ones baked in metal have, but it's a keeper of a recipe for sure. I'll track down those molds eventually.
Mine hold 3/4 cup of water and are 3.5 inches across. They're vintage, which might explain why they're an unusual size...maybe they're the kind of thing you just have to keep an eye out for in thrift/antique stores? I remember pouncing on them as soon as I saw them! I miss the antique stores up in NH, though I'm sure there are treasures to be found in Texas.
Yumz.
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