Caramelized Bananas With Raspberries

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Indulgent and deliciously simple, these Caramelized Bananas with Raspberries are only 5 ingredients and take just 10 minutes to make. It is also light enough to serve at brunch! Ripe bananas are pralined with almonds until caramelized and then topped with whole milk yogurt and fresh raspberries. This dessert is like a cross between a Banana Flambe, Bananas Foster, and an Eton Mess, only healthier!

This recipe makes use of those brown, spotty bananas.

The star of this sweet recipe is of course the humble banana! Frequently, we buy a bunch of bananas with hopes of sneaking them into smoothies and choosing them as a snack. More often than not though, we leave 1-2 bananas at the end of the week that inevitably go soft!

Now you have a way to make use of those ripe bananas AND give them a boost by pan roasting them with almonds and a tiny amount of butter! The natural sugars in the ripe banana slightly char to give a deep caramel flavor to the dish. The almonds add a nice crunch too!

What Is A Praline?

Pralines are a French confection made by cooking nuts and sugar together. Early pralines were individual almonds coated in sugar. Over time different iterations of praline reached other European countries as well as the US.

There are big differences between French pralines, American pralines, and Belgian pralines. Here’s a brief breakdown:

• French pralines: Caramelized sugar and almonds. Almonds are exclusively used.
• American pralines: Softer pralines with the addition of cream. Pecans and hazlenuts can also be used in place of almonds.
• Belgian pralines: Soft pralines covered in a chocolate shell. Most if not all cholocate shops in Belgium will carry this variety as it is a confectionary staple.

This dessert pays a loose homage to the French praline technique, with the addition of almonds. Adding almonds to the pan will toast them for a nice crunch and coat them in the natural caramelized banana sugar.

My easy trick for any creamy dessert is to use whole milk yogurt instead!

Whole milk yogurt has really upped its game the last few years. Brands like Yoplait came out with a French-style yogurt that is absolutely amazing in this recipe. It’s rich and thick but still classified as a genuine yogurt and not a cream.

If you prefer a sweeter yogurt, you can opt for vanilla instead of plain. For the creamiest yogurt, look on the label for the words “cream-top” and “whole milk”.

Look at the ingredients and make sure the only ingredients are milk and the live cultures Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. Authentic yogurt can be thick and creamy on its own and it’s worth it to find a brand that only uses natural ingredients. Fage is a great one as they only include milk and live cultures.

It is common to see additives in many yogurts such as cornstarch or thickening agents like pectin or gelatin. They are used to prevent separation of the curd and whey, but separation is a natural process and a little stir is all that is needed to regain the original creaminess of a freshly opened tub of yogurt.

You will need a banana that is ripe but not too ripe.

Let’s face it, bananas go bad fast! We’ve all been there, buying a nice hefty bunch of bananas, thinking of all the grand plans we have for them. For those stragglers, this is the perfect recipe!

Choose a ripe banana with ample brown spotting but is still relatively firm. Save the black bananas for banana bread and other baked treats- their texture will be too soft to pan roast and will fall apart into mush.

Great ways to switch up caramelized bananas with raspberries

• Swap chopped hazlenuts or pecans for the almonds
• Use other fresh fruit like strawberries and peaches instead of raspberries
• Infuse the bananas while they’re roasting with a compliementing spice, like cinnamon, cardamom or vanilla pod
• Swap coconut oil for the butter to make it vegan