Caramelized Banana Souffle
 
Easy recipe for banana souffle dusted with icing sugar and served with crunchy caramelized bananas.
Ingredients
For the ramekins:
  • ~50g butter, softened
  • ~50g cup sugar
For the caramelized bananas:
  • 3 bananas, peeled, split lengthwise, and chopped into pieces a few inches long
  • ~75g sugar
For the souffles:
  • 230g milk
  • 1 vanilla bean, split with vanilla caviar scraped out into milk
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 50g + 25g sugar
  • 10g flour
  • 10g cornstarch
  • 1 banana, peeled
  • 2 tablespoons rum
  • 3 egg whites
To assemble:
  • Icing sugar
Method
Prepare the ramekins:
  1. Brush butter into the ramekins using vertical brush strokes at the walls of the ramekins so that the souffle can follow the butter grooves upward.
  2. Pour sugar into one of the ramekins, turn to coat the sides with sugar, and pour the sugar into the next ramekin. Repeat until all ramekins are coated with sugar.
  3. Place in the fridge to chill while you prepare the remaining elements.
Prepare the caramelized bananas:
  1. Put the sugar on a plate and dip the inner, wet side of the banana in the sugar.
  2. Place the bananas sugar-side up on a baking tray.
  3. Using a kitchen torch, or a torch lighter, heat the sugar until it caramelizes. I tried using a broiler for this step and it doesn't work well because the bananas get too mushy. I highly recommend using a lighter/torch of some sort.
Prepare the souffles:
  1. Whip together the egg yolks and 50g of sugar until light and fluffy.
  2. Heat the milk with the vanilla bean and vanilla caviar until it simmers in a medium sized saucepan. Remove the vanilla bean and very slowly pour the milk into the egg yolks while whisking quickly.
  3. Sift in the flour and the cornstarch and whisk together well. Pour back into the saucepan and cook on low heat, whisking often, until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
  4. Once cooled, blend together the rum and the banana and mix into the custard. You can do up to this step in advance.
  5. Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl on medium speed, gradually adding the 25g of sugar. Once the egg whites get to stiff peaks, fold in one third of the banana mixture. Don't be gentle.
  6. Once incorporated, fold in the remaining banana mixture as gently as possible to avoid deflating the egg whites.
  7. Fill the ramekins up halfway and then hit the ramekins against the counter so that the batter fills in all the edges and rises evenly. Then, fill up the ramekins the rest of the way and use an offset spatula to scrape off the excess mixture and get a flat top.
  8. Bake in a 190°C (375°F) oven for approximately fifteen minutes and lightly browned. Don't over-bake or they will collapse in the oven. Do not open the oven door until you're ready to take them out.
To assemble:
  1. Dust souffles with icing sugar and place the ramekins on a plate with a couple of pieces of caramelized bananas.
Recipe by IronWhisk at http://www.ironwhisk.com/2014/05/caramelized-banana-souffle/