Chocolate Chip And Banana Cheesecake Tartlets

These couldn’t be easier to make and quick.  My usual kitchen conundrum of “what in the hell am I going to do with those damn bananas?” stared me in the face once again.  So, I went through my own recipe archives and with a little cutting and pasting, mashing and whipping I came up with these little babies.  My son, Luke, declared them “the most delicious thing he’s had for dessert ever,” ousting Baked Chocolate Cream from its long standing number one position in the dessert charts.  There you have it.  Don’t over bake them or they will come out dry.  I used pre-made mini graham cracker tartlet shells to expedite the quickness, but you could very easily make your own, or even make a larger tart.  A dollop of whipped cream would really dress these up nicely.

Makes 8 tartlets

Ingredients

2 very ripe bananas

8 oz cream cheese – room temperature

1 egg – room temperature

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ semi-sweet chocolate pieces

Preheat oven to 325°F.  Beat cream cheese, egg, sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl until creamy using an electric mixer, about 3-5 minutes.  Beat the bananas in a small bowl until relatively smooth, add to cream cheese mixture, and beat on low until fully incorporated. 

Stir in the chocolate pieces.  Drop a ¼cup of banana cream cheese mixture into each tartlet shell.  Place shells on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes, the sides should be firm and middle still soft and wobbly. 

Chill for a few hours then serve with whipped cream if desired.

Blondie Bites - What have I been missing?

Why in the world didn’t I ever make these before?  One reason was that every time I have had a taste of a Blondie it was sickly sweet and way too chewy/underdone for my taste.  Well...not anymore.  This is another one of those easy one bowl beauties that belongs in everyone’s repertoire.  You can definitely mix up the chips, add nuts try peanut butter pieces, white chocolate would be nice too let your mind go crazy with combinations. This is just perfect and whips up in a ½ hour...tops.  Enjoy!

Makes enough for 48 bites or 2 8x8 inch baking pans

Ingredients

16 oz or 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

2 cups light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 1/3 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup butterscotch chips

Beat butter and sugar together in a large bowl until smooth.  Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.  Beat in vanilla until incorporated.  Stir in flour until incorporated.  Stir in chips.

Spoon 1 heaping teaspoon into lined muffin tin.  The batter should be slightly lower than the muffin cups (the blondies will not rise much, just spread a little)  Bake for 13-15minutes (8x8 baking pans will take 20-25 minutes) until tops just being to turn brown and feel set (not hard) when touched.  Let cool in muffin tin and transfer to wire race to finish cooling.  Do not over bake.

It’s All Delicious Notes:  Inspired by Jill B (a fellow Berkeley Hall golfer), adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything and good advice from Smitten Kitchen!

Banana's Foster Custard Pie - So Yummy!

1st in rich and creamy division of the Hilton Head Wine and Food Fest Pie Competition sponsored by the Junior League of Savannah

Banana’s Foster Custard Pie

Makes one 9 or 10 inch pie

Here’s the recipe as promised.  A couple of things...this is easy but a bit fiddley with the different parts.  Be careful with the custard, you don't want to end up with vanilla tasting scrambled eggs...blich.  Make sure the bananas are very firm...they will turn to mush when cooking if they are not.  You can make and assemble this the day before you want to serve it.  Just wait until an hour or so before hand to top it with the sour cream mixture.

Ingredients

For the custard

2 cups whole milk

1 cup whipping cream

1-teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

6 tablespoons cornstarch

For the bananas

3 tablespoons butter

¼ cup light brown sugar

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of salt

1-teaspoon vanilla extract

2 firm bananas, no spots

3 tablespoons dark rum

For the crème fraiche topping

1 cup sour cream*

3 Tablespoons whipping cream

Whisked together until smooth and creamy

* I like Daisy Brand - even the "lite" is rich and creamy

For the pie crust

2 cups all purpose flour

2 eggs

½ cup butter – cut into cubes

Pinch of salt

Make the Pie Crust

Process all ingredients together in the bowl of a food processor for 30 seconds.  If the dough does not form a rough shape, add a little ice water by tablespoon.  Turn dough out onto a floured board, shape in a disk and roll out.  Bake crust blind at 350F until it loses it's sheen (about 20 minutes) before assembling.

Make the custard

Whisk eggs, yolks, sugar and cornstarch in a large bowl until smooth, set aside.  Heat milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan until simmering.  Whisk half of the cream mixture into eggs. Pour eggs mixture back into milk.  Stirring constantly, cook over low heat until it bubbles and thickens.  Make sure you reach the sides of the saucepan so the custard does not stick and scorch.  Pour custard into a clean bowl, cover surface with cling film to prevent a “skin” forming.

Prepare the bananas

Slice the bananas in ¼ inch pieces.   Melt the butter and sugar in a skillet over medium heat.  Stir in the vanilla and cinnamon; continue cooking and stirring until the sugar dissolves.  Place the bananas in the sauce, coat pieces with the sauce and cook until soft and beginning to brown, about 3-4 minutes.  Pour rum over bananas and allow to heat.  Ignite sauce with a long lighter and let flame.  When flames die out, cook for 1 minute longer, remove from heat

Assemble pie

Spread ¼ of the custard mixture into the pie shell.  Arrange banana slices on top of custard.  Spread remaining custard on top of bananas.  Chill for at least 2 hours.  Before serving, remove wrap, spoon crème fraiche on top of custard.  Serves 6-8