Banana Cinnamon Puddings with Butterscotch Sauce

My kids are what I call faze-eaters or gorge-feeders. My daughter has a bird-like, grazing appetite, and my son is a heavy snacker and eats small main meals. But when they discover something new, they gorge themselves on it like they cannot get enough. I don't mind this when it's a healthy thing, and it always is, or I wouldn't let them do it. For the duration of a week it was strawberries. Now they wont look at them. For two weeks it was bananas. Now they wont touch them. It's been beans, chickpeas, pasta, mandarins and yogurt. The banana faze left me with tonnes of bananas I had to cut up and freeze, hence this recipe perked my curiosity and made me feel I could get a little condensing done from the freezer.
And who doesn't love that banana cinnamon and butterscotch combination? Its like a match made it heaven, and its also made with greek yogurt which makes it light and airy with a bit of a tang. Scrumptious!

BANANA CINNAMON PUDDINGS WITH BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE (From Taste)

100g butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup self raising flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup mashed banana
2/3 cup greek yogurt

Sauce:
1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup cream
25g butter, chopped

Preheat the oven to 180C. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add one egg at a time and beat thoroughly between each addition. Add the flour and cinnamon and mix until combined. Fold in the mashed banana and yogurt. Divide between 6 greased ramekins or 6 greased Texas muffin tins.
Cook for 30-35 minutes or until the tops are golden and a skewer comes out clean.
To make the sauce, place the brown sugar, cream and butter in a small saucepan. Heat on low, stirring for 3 minutes or until the butter melts. Increase the heat and bring to the boil. Lower the heat again and continue cooking for a few more minutes until the mixture thickens. Pour over warm puddings to serve.

SERVES 6.

Banana Cinnamon Puddings with Butterscotch Sauce

A Stomach for Sweets

Now I know that everyone has a stomach...but did you know some people have two? Yes, I am one of those. Actually, I have three at the moment with Tiny bubba in the oven but I'm not going to count that one. The extra one I'm referring to is the dessert stomach! Most women have one, I am still trying to work out if the men do.
Yes...the dessert stomach. You're "full as a goog" so to speak, but there's always room for a chocolate or a slice of that apple pie.True story.
My dessert stomach is virtually always empty and well, its not a bottomless pit but lets just say food digests rather speedily in that region.

Mmmh...apple pie.
Speaking of which, there are some things that never go astray, like that dessert to finish off a meal. The marriage of sugar, cinnamon and apple, wrapped up in golden buttery pastry. *drool*
So I concocted a little afternoon tea delight using a combination of all these ingredients and ooh why didn't I make more? The deliciousness of the apple oozed into the cinnamon and sugar and made a lovely syrup at the bottom of these little treats which was just so tasty. I couldn't stop eating them.

APPLE CINNAMON TWISTS

1 granny smith apple
2 sheets thawed puff pastry
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-2 tbsp cinnamon
2 tbsp. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 180C. Keeping the peel on, cut apple into thin slices. Melt butter in a small bowl and with a pastry brush, lather over the two sheets of thawed pastry.
Combine sugar and cinnamon, and spread generously over the entire surface of the pastry sheets. Cut each pastry sheet into quarters and then score from one corner to the opposite (so you have two triangles for each 1/4 of the pastry sheet).
Wrap a slice of apple in each piece of pastry and place on a lined baking tray. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the pastry has puffed up and is turning golden. Serve warm.

 

NOTES: These babies are so good warm and just out of the oven...mmmh! You can also serve them cold and they are almost as delicious. You can use any type of apple preferred, and cut and wrap them in pastry as desired.