Posts tagged ‘bananas’

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March 16, 2012

Banana Berry Crumbles for Breakfast and Dessert

and they’re vegan too!

Dessert for breakfast.

It’s not even as rebellious as you might think. (Although, I do like to be rebellious.)

If it has fruit, oats, cinnamon, nuts and maple and goes well with both ice cream and yogurt it can be both, right?

I made these one night after a long and horrendous rainy-day commute home. I’m pretty sure the notion of warm, baked fruit carried me that whole extra hour it took to get to my door.

I realized that if I made a crumble on the healthy side of the dessert spectrum, it could also be a completely appropriate balanced breakfast. Win win win. All nonsense is kept to a minimum – the only sweetener is the natural fruit and a little maple syrup or honey and the result is a perfect little ramekin filled with warm, gooey berries with a crispy cinnamon-oat topping.

It can be made ahead and popped in the oven in the morning. Or whipped up quickly for a special after dinner treat.

Breakfast crumble. For breakfast or dessert. It’s totally going to become a thing.

Vegan Breakfast/Dessert Crumble
for Two
Adapted from Joy the Baker

Fruit:
- 2 small bananas, mashed
- 1 1/2 blueberries or other berries (if frozen, thawed and drained)
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup (or honey)

Crumble:
- 3/4 cup rolled oats
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch of nutmeg
- pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup (or honey)
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon water
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1-2 tablespoons of walnuts and sunflower seeds (or whatever nuts you have)

Grease 2 1 cup-sized ramekins and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C.

Combine fruit with cinnamon and maple in a bowl.

In another bowl combine rolled oats, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and mix together. In a small bowl, whisk together maple syrup, oil, water and vanilla. Pour maple mixture over the oats and mix well until oats are covered and a little sticky.

Divide the fruit between the two ramekins and top with the oats. Sprinkle with nuts, and extra cinnamon (and even a little brown sugar if it’s definitely dessert) if desired.

Place on a baking tray and bake for about 35 minutes.

If you’re not vegan, I strongly suggest serving this with good Greek yogurt or vanilla ice cream.

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November 21, 2011

real bananas, fake ice cream


This is one for the banana lovers.

In the Good Living section of the Sydney Morning Herald a couple of weeks ago, I read about a sneaky mother’s brilliant idea of making fruit puree “ice cream” for her kids. Like most children, her little ones could eat ice cream every day if allowed. Instead of depriving them, she chopped up a couple of over-ripe bananas, froze and then food processed them. It looked, felt and tasted like ice cream. A revelation.

If you blitz bananas in the food processor for a minute or two, the frozen bananas yield a silky, creamy and perfectly balanced fice cream (fake ice cream, if you will. You won’t? Ok.) It’s best to let your bananas thaw for a few minutes so you spend less time pureeing. It will look like a chunky dry glob for a good 30 seconds there, but press on and it will give way to a frozen treat. You honestly wouldn’t believe there was nothing else in there besides fruit. The banana’s natural consistency creates this non-dairy smoothness like no other fruit can.

I don’t have any sweet-toothed children to fool, but I could certainly be talked into an ice cream every day. This is a fabulous compromise for a banana fan – an indulgent feeling dessert with no added sugar or dairy. A spoonful of peanut butter alongside a scoop of our banana “ice cream” and I’m on another planet. I swear, it’s that good.

It’s perfect if you’re not up to the task of baking with your over-ripe bananas and not in the business of wasting delicious fruit. I should note that your bananas don’t necessarily have to be over-ripe but definitely don’t make them under-ripe, they won’t be sweet enough to fool children or artificial banana flavoring enthusiasts.

Ingredients:
Bananas (however many you want to use), sliced

Method:
Place a layer of sliced bananas on a plate lined with baking paper. If you have more bananas than surface area on your plate, place another sheet of baking paper over your first layer and place more bananas on top of that.
Freeze for 2-3 hours or overnight.
Remove from freezer and let sit out for about 3-4 minutes.
Place in the food processor and process for 1 to 2 minutes until the consistency is creamy. Serve like ice cream.

It refreezes well and will maintain its ice cream-like texture.

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