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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

POOF! No Eyebrows! (But yummy dessert!)


One thing I don't do a lot of is making desserts. I tend to really focus on appetizers, mains and side dishes and then do something fairly simple or (gasp) store bought for dessert. But after watching a show about using alcohol when cooking I was intrigued at the idea of pouring some booze into a pan and setting it on fire! I knew of two recipes that called for such a technique...cherries jubilee and bananas foster. Cherries I don't really care for so bananas foster it is! And what a simple recipe! Butter and brown sugar combine quickly to make a great caramel sauce. Throw in your bananas, add your rum and touch with a flame! POOF! NO EYEBROWS! After putting yourself out the flame dies off and you are left with a sauce infused with all the richness of rum flavors minus the harsh burn of the alcohol. I served this over a slice of awesome pound cake my wife made (thank you sweetie) and topped it with vanilla bean ice cream. A little extra caramel on the ice cream and it was ready to go. I put a plate of it in front of my mother in-law who I have never known to eat too much dessert. Her eyes bulged and she asked if this was just for her! A few minutes later I looked over and she was scraping the caramel from her empty plate. She almost sounded guilty when she said "I just couldn't stop!"

Use the best quality rum you can get for this as the premium ingredients will make a difference in flavoring your sauce. I used Brugal, a fantastic rum from the Dominican Republic but something like Appleton's Extra would do nicely.

For safety's sake have your kitchen fire extinguisher handy.

Bananas Foster

Ingredients
1/2 unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 bananas peeled, halved, and cut lengthwise
1/4 cup dark rum

Directions
In a large skillet, melt butter. Using a wooden spoon, add brown sugar and stir together until caramel is formed. Add the bananas and cook until caramelized on both sides, over medium-high heat. Move pan off heat, add the rum and return to the stove. Light rum with long lighter. Stand back when ignited and flambe the bananas. Be careful a flame will shoot up above the pan. Let flame die down and the alcohol cook out. Serve bananas over vanilla ice cream and/or a slice of pound cake.


How easy is that? Not only will people love this recipe but they will also be ridiculously impressed as you touch off a small fireball in your kitchen! And don't worry, eyebrows are really only for decoration anyway! :)~

Cheers

PFD

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