Baked Caramelized Bananas with Walnut Crumble
Banana halves baked in a buttery caramel until soft and golden, topped with a crisp toasted walnut crumble. A warm, simple dessert that lets the oven do all the work.
- Total
- 68 min
- Prep 15 · Cook 43 · Rest 10
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Caramelizing · Creaming butter
- Sweet
- Oven
Instructions
-
Heat the oven to 190°C.
~12 min
-
While the oven heats, put 40 g of the butter in the baking dish and place it in the oven until melted, about 3 minutes.
~3 min
Melting butter in the hot dish preheats the pan and ensures even coating, preventing sticking.
-
Peel the bananas and cut them in half lengthwise. Toss them in the melted butter in the dish, then sprinkle 60 g of the sugar over the top, turning the bananas so they are coated on all sides.
~5 min
Coating bananas in butter and sugar helps them caramelize and stay moist during baking.
Choose bananas that are ripe but still firm, they hold their shape in the oven instead of turning to mush.
Caramelizing Coat fruit evenly with sugar and butter, then bake until bubbles turn golden; avoid stirring to prevent crystallization.
-
Chop the walnuts into rough 5 mm pieces. In a bowl, rub the remaining 40 g butter into the flour with your fingertips until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the remaining 40 g sugar, the walnuts and the salt.
~8 min
Rubbing butter into flour creates coarse crumbs that bake into a crisp, flaky topping.
Creaming butter Rub cold butter into flour quickly with fingertips until coarse crumbs form; overworking makes it greasy and dense.
-
Bake the bananas uncovered for 15 minutes, until they soften and the sugar and butter bubble into a golden caramel around them.
~15 min
Baking uncovered allows moisture to evaporate, concentrating sugars into a golden caramel.
Caramelizing Coat fruit evenly with sugar and butter, then bake until bubbles turn golden; avoid stirring to prevent crystallization.
-
Scatter the walnut crumble evenly over the bananas. Return to the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until the crumble is golden brown and the bananas are tender when pierced with a knife.
~15 min
The crumble browns and crisps while bananas finish cooking, and the caramel thickens further.
If the caramel in the dish starts to darken too quickly, lay a piece of foil loosely over the top for the last few minutes of baking.
-
Let the dish stand for 10 minutes so the caramel thickens slightly, then spoon the bananas and their caramel into bowls.
~10 min
Resting lets the hot caramel thicken and set slightly, making it easier to spoon and less runny.