Chocolate & Caramelized Bananas Tart … sounds fancy, doesn’t it? I got the recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s ‘Paris Sweets’. It isn’t the original tart, but it’s a variation. The original tart is called ‘A Chocolate Tart for Sonia Rykiel’ aka ‘Tarte au Chocolat pour Sonia Rykiel’. As a self-proclaimed ‘fashion-addict’ of course I know Sonia Rykiel; she’s a French fashion designer. Not entirely my type of clothing but I admire her contribution to the fashion industry. The difference between this tart and Sonia’s tart is that the bananas are caramelized. A worthwhile touch I think! I made these baby tarts today for dessert and my family (and I) loved them! Off to a great start with my new book!

Sweet Tart Dough recipe: Dorie Greenspan - Paris Sweets

Ingredients: Makes enough for three 9-inch tarts
- 2 ½ sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
- ½ cup ground blanched almonds
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Instructions:
- Place the butter in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on low speed until creamy. Add the sugar, almonds, salt, vanilla and eggs, beating on low speed. Still on low, add the flour in 3 or 4 additions and mix only until the mixture comes together - a matter of seconds. Don’t overdo it.
- Gather the dough into a ball and divide it into 3 or 4 pieces. Gently press each piece into a disk and wrap each one in plastic. Allow the dough to rest in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or for up to 2 days. The dough can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to a month.
- Work with one piece of dough at a time; keep the remaining dough in the refridgerator. Working on a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a round 1/8 inch thick. Roll the dough up and around your rolling pin and unroll it onto the tart ring. Fit the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the ring, then run your rolling pin across the top of the ring to cut off the excess. If the dough cracks or splits, patch the cracks with scraps, moisten the edges to ‘glue’ them back in place. Prick the dough all over with a fork and chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Fit a circle of parchment paper or foil into the crust and fill with pie-weights (dried beans or rice). Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, then remove the pie weights and bake for another 5 to 7 mintes, until golden.

* This recipe makes enough dough for three 9-inch tarts. If you want a smaller recipe, I recommend Martha Stewart’s Tart Dough. Click here for that recipe.

Chocolate & Caramelized Bananas Tart recipe: Dorie Greenspan - Paris Sweets

Ingredients:
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, for frying
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 to 3 ripe but firm bananas
- 1 fully baked 8-inch tart shell (I used 4 mini tarts)

Instructions:
- Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Pour the heavy cream into a small saucepan, bringing to a full boil, pour over the chocolate and let the mixture rest for 30 seconds. (I melted the chocolate first before adding the cream) Using a whisk, very gently stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth, then whisk in the butter until melted.
- Peel and cut the bananas on the diagonal into ¼-inch-thick slices. Melt 1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted butter in a skillet over high heat and add 2 tablespoons sugar; when the sugar is lightly caramelized, toss in the bananas. Still working over high heat, sauté the bananas to caramelize them. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bananas to a plate to cool. When they are cool, pat off any excess butter with paper towels and lay the bananas in the tart shell before pouring in the ganache. Chill (until the ganache sets), then finish with the top layer of bananas.

Caramelizing the bananas. One of the very rare occasions I use the frying pan and cook ;).

When caramelized, the banana slices become very yellow and squishy.

In their baked tart shells.

Chocolate ganache. I’m a sucker for melted chocolate.

Dripping chocolate and caramelized bananas; it was bound to be good!

The combination is sinfully delicious. I think I’m going to caramelize the bananas I have left and dip them into the chocolate!

I saw this recipe a little bit ago on Two Peas and A Pod who adapted this recipe from Joy the Baker. Maria at Two Peas in a Pod is a real cookie connoisseur. So I really wanted to try this recipe. Plus my son has a friend with a gluten allergy and I though maybe I could have these for when he’s at our home. They would also be an excellent treat to whip up for an after school snack or to toss into a sack lunch for school. They turned out great. I did ask my family if they prefer these of my regular PB cookie. They all prefer the regular PB cookie I make, but this still was a great cookie.

Today I also wanted to share some school lunch ideas that I came across recently. One of the biggest tips was to mix up what you use to put the sandwiches on whether it be rolls, a hot dog bun, tortilla, or mini bagels. There are all kinds of fun options out there. A great idea that sounded yummy to me was to make a sandwich using raisin bread, then spread a slice of bread with reduced fat cream cheese and raspberry jam. Then fold the slice of bread diagonally and pinch edges to seal. Then you create a triangular pocket type sandwich. Sounded fabulous to me.

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup brown sugar & 1/2 cup white sugar)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray.
2. Mix the peanut butter and sugar together until creamy and smooth.
3. Add in the egg and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined.
4. Stir in the salt, baking soda, and chocolate chips.
5. Spoon dough into balls, about 1 Tablespoon of dough for each cookie. Place them on the cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart.
6. Smash with a fork and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let them sit on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes. Move to a wire rack and cool. Make sure you don’t over bake. They will set up and you want them to be soft.

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite…Butternut squash and pumpkin have started to appear in our farmer’s markets. I’m delighted. I’ve been waiting for their arrival so that I could try a recipe I found earlier this summer. I’d been looking for a soup to replace the corn chowder I normally serve with our Thanksgiving meal and I had the good fortune to stumble on this recipe develop by Ed Chamberlain. The use of cardamom and allspice leads me to believe the soup has Scandinavian origins. It’s delicious, simple to make and freezes well. The next time I make it I plan to use acorn squash. The butternut squash is delicious but I want more depth of color than it provides. You’ll need about 3 pounds of squash to make this soup. I simmer it in stock, but it could also be baked and pureed before adding it to the soup pot. While I used fresh pumpkin, it was overkill and unnecessary work. Canned pumpkin can be substituted. As a matter of fact, frozen squash could also be used. I finished the soup with heavy cream but whole milk or light cream would also work for those who prefer their soup on the lighter side. There is, however, no substitute for the cardamom.

Creamy Winter Squash Soup…from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
2 medium (1-1/2 pounds each) butternut squash
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups canned or fresh pumpkin puree
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups heavy cream, light cream or whole milk
Optional Garnish:
Croutons
Creme fraiche

Directions:
1) Peel the squash; cut into chunks. Place in a soup pot. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until tender, about 30 minutes. Transfer squash and some chicken broth to bowl of a food processor; puree until smooth.
2) Return squash puree to soup pot. Add pumpkin puree, honey, ginger, cardamom, allspice, salt and pepper. Heat, stirring until smooth and heated through. Add heavy cream and stir until blended. If desired, garnish soup with creme fraiche and croutons. Yield: 8 servings.

This post is being liked to Mellow Yellow Monday.

Now if that’s not a catchy title, I don’t know what is! I must say that if pics of dead fish (with big eyeballs) gross you out, you should stop right here.

We decided to “taste the culture” yesterday, and headed to the outdoor market for some fresh, local, Azorean treats. We started out at the fruit and veg store, where our friend Humberto sold us all kinds of deliciousness, mostly all of it local. Figs, melons, tomatoes, grapes, bananas, etc. Humberto is great- he acted unfazed when my 2-year old did a literal face-plant into a huge bunch of grapes, eating and slobbering as he went. He let us have them for free (though I couldn’t help but wonder if he secretly hated us! He didn’t act like it though. Good ol’ Humberto. We did offer to pay a few times, but he wouldn’t let us).

Then, we went to the fish store. I was on the lookout for some fresh sardines, but being the brilliant one that I am, I forgot to look up the Portuguese word for them (”sardinhas“- what a toughie!) I didn’t even look online to see what they look like. So, I ended up buying what I thought were fresh sardines, but were really horse mackerel (I think). As a cooking friend candidly said, “What an appetizing name for a fish!” Lol!

Even though they weren’t the coveted fresh sardines, they still needed to be eaten… before they stank up the fridge. So we put those babies on the grill! (Seasoned only with olive oil, coarse sea salt, and TJ’s lemon-pepper). The fish-monger ladies cleaned out the guts for us… I’m grateful. They left the poor heads on though, so that part kind of freaked me out while I was handling them. And the cooked meat was a pain to get off, as these fish are so tiny, and full of even tinier bones. But when it was all said and done, the meat was very yummy and everyone thought it tasted good; the kids couldn’t get enough.

Needless to say, the mini horse-mackerel experience is not something we’ll be rushing to repeat! Still on the lookout for those fresh sardines, though…..

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **