Lady Banana

Meet my dream girl, Lady Banana, We are in love. If you can imagine Banana's Foster in a loose form of tiramisu then you can almost taste the magic that is my new bestie, "Lady Banana"! Fresh whipped cream, sweet dunked lady fingers and devilishly delicious carmelized bananas pile high to make this desert one you won't soon forget or be able to stop eating!

I created this for a special pairing with Schweiger Vineyards, It took me three passes to get it right, but I am so in love with the results. If you watched our live tasting, you probably caught that as I could not stop shoveling it in my mouth. It pairs gloriously with their Napuro desert wine!

Whip this up and get ready to go steady with Lady Banana!!

What Do I Need

1 Packet of Vanilla Pudding

20 - 24 Lady Fingers

1 Can of Condensed Sweetened Milk

1 t Vanilla

3 Bananas

1 Stick Butter

1 Cup Brown Sugar

1/3 Cup of Spiced Rum

3 Cups Heavy Cream (1/2 cup for bananas foster, 2 cups for whipped cream topping)

9 " square Pyrex or Casserole

Now What

Start by preparing your vanilla pudding and set in refrigerator, allow enough time for it to solidify. I typically make mine hours ahead if not the day before.

Now it's time to prepare your bananas foster mixture! Heat 1 Stick butter in a sauce pan, add 1 cup dark brown sugar and mix, next add 1/2 cup of heavy cream and stir until the sugar is well mixed in. Now add your sliced bananas and gently stir. It's time now, to add your rum! Please be careful in this step! Gently pour in your rum and give it a stir, now, using a long ignitor, flambé the mixture. (Have a lid closely for safety in the event you need to quickly extinguish the flame), the flame should go out in about 45 seconds. Turn off heat and let's keep keep trucking!

(If you want to skip the flame section, you can, just raise the heat and simmer off the rum).

Next, heat your condensed milk and vanilla in a small pot on a low flame, once it has thinned a bit submerge your lady fingers one at a time, dunk them and allow them to get thoroughly coated, remove them and line them along the bottom of a 9" square pyrex. You want to cover the bottom of the dish, but you don't need to fill every gap, i break up lady fingers to fit the dish. Next gently spoon about half of your bananas and their sauce over the lady fingers, top with a layer of pudding (use it all), now assemble another layer of dunked lady fingers and the remainder of your bananas and sauce. Cover and refridgerate for at least 2 hours before serving!

Before serving, whip your remaining heavy cream and top your dish with it, reserving about a 1/2 cup for topping each serving! You can do this in advance if you want, I just LOVE super fresh whipped cream.

Spoon into wine glasses or serving bowls and top with your remaining whipped cream!