Santos Recipe for May: Banana filled tartlets

02 / 05 / 2018 —

We want you to enjoy your kitchen while preparing the simplest to the most elaborate recipes. Alone or in company, in silence or with your favourite music playing in the background, on a rainy day or a hot summer day. This May, we encourage you to try this recipe for Banana filled tartlets.

Ingredients (For 6 tartlets, approximately 6-7 cm in diameter)

1. 6 tartlet or muffin tins
2. 1 puff pastry sheet, refrigerated
3. 3-4 bananas, ripe but firm
4. 50 g butter
5. 2 tablespoons brown sugar
6. 2 tablespoons coconut or banana liqueur
7. 250 ml heavy cream (35% fat)
8. Juice of 1 lemon
9. 1 tablespoon cream cheese
10. 2-3 tablespoon white sugar (to taste)
11. 100 ml water
12. 100 g white sugar
13. 12 strawberries
14. Fresh mint for decorating

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 ºC (gas mark 6), heat top and bottom.

Brush the tartlet tins with a little melted butter or coat with a non-stick baking spray.

Unroll the puff pastry. Cut out discs the size of the tins (bottom and sides). Line the tins with the puff pastry, prick the base with a fork and cover with some greaseproof paper. Add a few dried beans (chickpeas, beans, etc.) as a weight to keep the puff pastry from rising. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, remove the weights and take the tartlets out of the tins. Leave to cool on a rack. If the tartlets puff up in spite of the weights, carefully break the first layer of puff pastry and remove it, revealing the empty space underneath.

The puff pastry tartlet shells can be prepared the day before. The bananas, cream and other ingredients can be prepared on the day the dessert is going to be served so that it can be assembled just before serving.

Cut the bananas into slices and sprinkle them with lemon juice so that they do not turn brown.

Put the butter and brown sugar in a frying pan over a medium heat until melted. Turn up the heat and add the bananas, stirring a couple of times with a wooden spoon. Cook the bananas until light to golden brown. Add the two tablespoons of liqueur and let the alcohol evaporate. Turn off the heat and leave to cool.

Using a hand mixer, whip the cream together with the cream cheese and sugar until a creamy but consistent texture is obtained. Set aside.

Prepare the syrup, which is used to add shine and sweetness to the strawberries. To do this, place the water and sugar in a frying pan over a high heat. Cook for 5 minutes from the time it begins to boil and remove. Set aside and leave to cool.

Clean and slice strawberries. Brush them with syrup.

To assemble the tartlets, place a couple of tablespoons of banana in each tartlet shell. Cover with a couple of tablespoonfuls of cream. Decorate with the strawberries brushed with syrup and a few mint leaves.

To see photos of the preparation and final presentation of this recipe, please visit the blog Sweet and sour.