- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
When we were growing up, my mother loved to flambé bananas, as well as just about anything else! She loved to make Crepes Suzette’s, brandied apples, duck a l’orange, and lots of other dishes that would amuse us kids with the dancing flames at the dining table.
This is my quick-and-easy version of Banana Foster (sort of). The original Banana’s Foster was created at Brennan’s Restaurant, one of New Orleans’ most historic and venerable dining establishments.
For their famous dessert, they include banana liqueur and a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream, brown sugar, rum, and cinnamon.
I use a lot less syrup. For more syrup, double the amount of butter and sugar, and add a tablespoon of orange juice or banana liqueur after the sugar has caramelized.
More than just for dessert, these spiced rum bananas are great along with pancakes or crepes for breakfast or brunch. My favorite time to serve this banana dish is on a Saturday or Sunday morning with crepes.
Ingredients
- 2 ripe bananas
- 4 tablespoons of butter
- 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 1/3 cup spiced dark rum, plus 1 tablespoon
- sprinkle freshly ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Peel bananas and slice them in half lengthwise. Melt the butter over medium-high heat in a skillet or large frying pan.
- Add the brown sugar and stir until the sugar is slightly caramelized, about 2 minutes. Add the 1/3 cup rum, stir, and add the banana halves to the pan, cut side down.
- Spoon the syrup over the banana halves and allow to cook until soft, flipping the bananas gently, just once, for about 30 seconds, then flip back to the cut side down.
- Carefully remove banana halves from individual dessert plates. Add the remaining rum to the syrup in the pan, stir to incorporate, and pick up any banana flesh from the bottom of the pan.
- The rum can be ignited while in the pan, then poured while flaming onto the plates for a nice presentation. Alternatively, you can pour the sauce over the bananas and then ignite them on each individual plate. Sprinkle the plates with some freshly ground cinnamon.
- Serve with vanilla bean ice cream, cinnamon ice cream, and a nice cappuccino or espresso.
