Looking for a sweet chocolate treat? These delicious chocolate bananas have a crispy shortbread pastry base, sweet buttercream and a banana in the middle and dark chocolate as a topping. This dessert is ideal to satisfy every sweet tooth, either during holidays, for a birthday or just like that.
Fresh fruits and chocolate are always a great dessert idea. Especially banana and chocolate is an awesome combination. I’ve seen and tried something similar at the pastry where I am learning to become a pastry chef. And I liked it a lot. Therefore, I decided to make it at home. With a little improvising, I managed to get a magnificent result. I think they would be proud of it and me, too. Wink.
These chocolate bananas are a real masterpiece yet very simple to make. In fact, there are only a couple of things you should keep in mind. Firstly, I suggest making the shortbread pastry dough the evening before and let it rest overnight. But, one hour rest will do as well. As a result, the gluten will relax and allow the pastry to chill. Consequently, a chilled pastry is way more likely to hold its shape during baking.
I like the simple “3, 2, 1” shortbread recipe. This 3-ingredient recipe consists of three parts of flour, two parts of butter and one part of sugar. I used it many times (check out these: the classic Christmas cookies, an elegant marzipan apricot tart or the apple rose tart) and it turned out great every time. Of course, you can also use different flours and add different spices.
Secondly, the dough will be a bit soft and very fragile after baking. Don’t freak out (just like I did the first time). Wink. It is important that you let it cool down. Completely! When chilled, it will get crispy and firm. Be patient and let the baked goodies chill before you use them.
Thirdly, keeping the bananas in the fridge before using them will allow the chocolate to harden quicker and not much will go to “waste”. Having said that, I scrapped the rests of the chocolate and stored them as a snack.
Last but not least, do not let the water to come in contact with chocolate when melting it. If even the smallest amount of water drops into the chocolate, it will turn it into a gritty and rough paste. And you don’t want that, right?
Ingredients for 4 chocolate bananas:
- 150 g whole grain flour
- 100 g butter (cubed, cold)
- 50 g caster sugar (I used half white, half brown)
- 2 tsp of cinnamon
- 2 bananas (cold)
- 300 g dark chocolate
- shredded coconut for garnish
- golden powder (optional)
- a 20×15 cm piece of cardboard to create the banana-shaped “cookie-cutter”
For the buttercream
- 100 g butter (unsalted, softened to room temperature)
- 200 g confectioner sugar (sifted)
- 2-3 Tbsp of coconut milk (canned)
- food colour (a tip of a toothpick)
To begin, prepare the short pastry dough. Either in a medium bowl or in a food processor, combine flour, butter, cinnamon and sugar. Blitz for 10 seconds or until all the ingredients come together and form a ball. If you are doing it with your hands, don’t overdo it. More, rub it between your hands until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Also, knead the dough briefly and gently until firm.
Quickly flatten the dough into a disk, wrap it with cling foil and place in the fridge for at least 40 minutes or overnight.
In the meantime, prepare the buttercream and cut a flat banana shape out of cardboard. In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the softened butter for about 1 minute. Once the butter is smooth and fluffy, mix in the sifted powder sugar (known also as icing or confectioner sugar). After it starts to come together, add the coconut milk, a pinch of salt and food colouring gel. Mix until well combined and refrigerate until ready to use. Put the two bananas in the fridge, too.
To make the banana shape, simply draw a silhouette of a banana (around 15 cm long) on cardboard and cut it out.
Then, preheat the oven to 180º C and take the shortbread pastry out of the fridge. Between two sheets of parchment paper, roll out the dough (5 mm thick). Place the banana form on the dough and cut around it, in order to get a banana-shaped piece and do the same three more times (or as many as you’re going to need).
Next, place the cut-out dough on a cookie sheet with parchment paper and put to bake for around 7 minutes or until nicely browned. Once the banana-shaped “cookies” are done, remove them (together with the parchment paper) carefully from the cookie sheet and let them completely cool down.
Meanwhile, prepare a small pot, a heat-resistant bowl and a wire rack with a piece of parchment paper underneath it. Pour some water (two fingers high) into the pot and bring to simmer. Break the chocolate into the bowl and place it over the pot, making sure the water doesn’t touch it and that the water doesn’t come in contact with the chocolate.
While the chocolate is melting, peel and cut the bananas (lengthwise). Also, fill a piping bag with buttercream and pipe it on a chilled shortbread pastry, by making a line (about 1 cm thick) in the middle for the whole length. Then, lay one banana half (cut side down) on each short pastry and slightly push it, in order to “glue” it with buttercream.
When the chocolate has melted, place the shortbread pastry with bananas on the wire rack and using a ladle, pour the chocolate over them. Make sure that everything is covered. You can also gently tap the wire rack, to evenly spread the chocolate. At this point, sprinkle the chocolate bananas with some shredded coconut and let the chocolate harden completely.
Last but not least, decorate the chocolate bananas with the rest of the buttercream and some gold powder. This is a wonderful sweet treat that will impress your guests and your family. Fruits and crispy pastry covered in chocolate. Lovely!
Enjoy and happy holidays!
