It started with an errant suggestion from Daniel: banana and tiramisu. My first reaction was, "What on earth am I supposed to do with that?" What do I soak the pastry in? Banana...sauce? Then it occurred to me: Bananas Foster. Of course the only thing that I knew about Bananas Foster is rum, so that prompted a Google search. Who knew that banana liqueur is a thing? A not so tasty thing, if Slate is to be believed. They suggest amaretto. I opted for Frangelico because hazelnut. Period.
Step one: Bananas. The ones that I had on hand were fairly monster sized, so I cooked three instead of four. There's also probably an art to halving them; mine tended to break into pieces, which ultimately helped in squishing them into the pan. I don't have any cool pictures of flaming bananas for you. The fire was hard to see, and we were both more concerned with not lighting either of us on fire. We opted for the kitchen lighter vs tilting the pan towards the gas fire.
Step two was making the tiramisu cream, which is basically egg whites and mascarpone. The latter ingredient can get fairly expensive, even from Trader Joe's, when you consider how much you need for a single pan of tiramisu. I made my own, which is a subject for another post. Anyway...I decreased my usual amount of white sugar in the cream mixture because of all of the brown sugar that already went into the butterscotch. It doesn't look like a lot in the end product, which I suspect has something to do with melting into the liquid from the bananas. Sigh.
Step three: assembly. I Tetrised (is that a verb?) the bananas into place, followed by cream, then dipped Savoiardi, then cream. If you can't find Savoiardi at your local store, you can buy some online or substitute lady fingers, which are close but don't hold up quite as well to wet ingredients. In any case, I probably should have laid down a layer of Saviordi beneath the bananas and let that mixture sit for a few hours before layering on the cream. Again, the liquid. At least all of it tasted delicious! The butterscotch doesn't soak into the Savoiardi as well as espresso, probably because it's more viscous. You can afford to let it sit in the butterscotch a little longer before setting it into the pan. (Usually you need to dip it in, flip it once, and take it out immediately to keep the coffee from turning it into a soggy mess.) Letting the final mixture sit in the refrigerator overnight also helps, kind of like an ice box cake. My sample size on that is minimal as Daniel already ate two thirds of the the 8" x 8" pan on Day 1. This is one more reason why we rock climb...
Butterscotch Banana Tiramisu
Ingredients:
4 T (1/2 stick) 
butter
1/2 cup
packed brown sugar
1 tsp
cinnamon
1 pinch
allspice
1 pinch
salt
4
medium bananas, halved
1/4 cup
Frangelico
1/4 cup
rum
4
egg whites
2 tsp
white sugar
500 g
mascarpone
1 pack
Savoiardi
Directions:
1.
Place the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, salt, and Frangelico in a pan and heat until all of the butter is melted and the mixture is bubbling.
2.
Add in the bananas and simmer until the bananas are heated through and the butterscotch has cooked in, about 5 min.
3.
Add in the rum and immediately light the pan ingredients with a long match or a kitchen lighter. Or the gas burner if you're braver than I am. Once the flames die down, set the pan aside and allow to cool.
4.
With a beater on low speed, beat the egg whites with the white sugar until frothy. Then turn it up to high speed and beat until you get soft peaks.
5.
Take a small dollop of the egg whites and mix with the marscapone. (This helps the rest of the egg whites to incorporate after.)
6.
Gently fold in about a third of the egg whites into the marscapone until there are no egg white streaks left. Repeat two more times, making sure that you don't loose too much air.
7.
Dip Savoiardi into the butterscotch and arrange them in a single layer in your 8" x 8" pan. Place bananas on top. I used a slotted spatula to remove mine from the pain so more of the butterscotch could drain off. Let this sit for a couple of hours so the liquid from the bananas can soak into the Savoiardi.
8.
Cover the bananas with 1/2 of your cream mixture.
9.
Dip more Savoiardi and arrange in a single layer on top of the cream. Keep any remaining butterscotch for drizzling later.
10.
Cover the Savoiardi with the remainder of the cream mixture.
11.
Cover the tiramisu with plastic wrap. Press the top of the wrap to the top of the cream to keep it from drying out. Allow tiramisu to sit in the refrigerator overnight.
12.
Remove plastic wrap, cut tiramisu into slices, and drizzle on warmed butterscotch. Serve immediately.
It started with an errant suggestion from Daniel: banana and tiramisu. My first reaction was, "What on earth am I supposed to do with that?" What do I soak the pastry in? Banana...sauce? Then it occurred to me: Bananas Foster. Of course the only thing that I knew about Bananas Foster is rum, so that prompted a Google search. Who knew that banana liqueur is a thing? A not so tasty thing, if Slate is to be believed. They suggest amaretto. I opted for Frangelico because hazelnut. Period.
Step one: Bananas. The ones that I had on hand were fairly monster sized, so I cooked three instead of four. There's also probably an art to halving them; mine tended to break into pieces, which ultimately helped in squishing them into the pan. I don't have any cool pictures of flaming bananas for you. The fire was hard to see, and we were both more concerned with not lighting either of us on fire. We opted for the kitchen lighter vs tilting the pan towards the gas fire.
Step three: assembly. I Tetrised (is that a verb?) the bananas into place, followed by cream, then dipped Savoiardi, then cream. If you can't find Savoiardi at your local store, you can buy some online or substitute lady fingers, which are close but don't hold up quite as well to wet ingredients. In any case, I probably should have laid down a layer of Saviordi beneath the bananas and let that mixture sit for a few hours before layering on the cream. Again, the liquid. At least all of it tasted delicious! The butterscotch doesn't soak into the Savoiardi as well as espresso, probably because it's more viscous. You can afford to let it sit in the butterscotch a little longer before setting it into the pan. (Usually you need to dip it in, flip it once, and take it out immediately to keep the coffee from turning it into a soggy mess.) Letting the final mixture sit in the refrigerator overnight also helps, kind of like an ice box cake. My sample size on that is minimal as Daniel already ate two thirds of the the 8" x 8" pan on Day 1. This is one more reason why we rock climb...
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