Banana Dessert Recipes

Banana Desserts

From cream pies, breads, and puddings to whips, freezes, and tarts, bananas make delightful dessert treats. Often the first favorite fruit of young children because of the soft texture and mild flavor, bananas can be solitary fruits in a multitude of recipes or serve as an accompaniment to other fruits such as:

• Strawberries
• Raspberries
• Melons
• Coconuts
• Oranges
• Pineapples

A useful fruit for many delicious desserts, bananas do need some careful handling to guarantee their versatility.

Tips for Bananas

Depending on how the fruit is to be used, different ages of fruit may be desirable. The freshest specimens are very firm, perhaps with a tinge of green in the peels’ coloring, and there will be no brown spots. Bananas continue to ripen after picking, so choosing greener fruit is acceptable if the recipe will not be made for several days. Green fruits are firmer, suitable for recipes requiri ng slices, though their flavor may not be as sweet. They will bruise easily, however, and should be stored carefully. Consider refrigerating the fruit to slow ripening.

Very ripe bananas, on the other hand, will have darker peels, perhaps with a large percentage of brown spots. These age spots and bruises make the fruit much softer, suitable for any dessert recipe that requires pureed fruits. Because they are so soft already, however, overripe fruits should be used quickly. Riper bananas are generally slightly sweeter than green fruits.

When peeling a banana, be sure to remove all strings from the soft fruit for the smoothest, most consistent flavor. Also be sure to trim the ends where the peel was attached, since they may have tougher sections.

A mild, delicious fruit that is easy to chew and digest, as well as high in potassium and other essential vitamins and nutrients, bananas are a delicious dessert choice. Their versatility makes them applicable in many classic recipes, or experiment with your own banana concoctions to create new family favorites.