If you're familiar with the New Orleans food scene, you've probably heard of bananas Foster. It's a dish you'll find in all the old school restaurants in the city, and basically involves bananas cooked in brown sugar and baking spices and rum before being SET ON FIRE (!!!!) for an audience. Then the whole thing gets topped with vanilla ice cream and eaten like a soupy sweet sticky amazing bowl of love. It's pretty much the best thing ever. We're using Louisiana pecans in the sugar cookie crust, a New Orleans rum to spice our cream cheese frosting, and brûléed bananas made with local cane sugar to top it all off. We've also slapped on some edible gold leafing, because the nature of bananas Foster is such a show (fire! clapping! you get it), so we needed something extra flashy. The end result is a thick, creamy, rum-filled, banana-loaded cookie bar and it is truly a fantastic situation. Truly.
Check out all our United States of Cookies recipes here. Recipe and photo courtesy of Beau and Matt from Probably This.
1-2 Tbsp
Milk
(likely not needed, see instructions in step 7)
Banana Topping
4-5
small Bananas
cut in half across the middle and then cut in half lengthwise (reference photos above)
2 Tbsp
Coconut Oil
melted
1 oz
Spiced Rum
1/2 cup
Sanding Sugar
or even "raw" sugar would work
Edible gold leafing for garnish
optional
Instructions
Position a rack in the center position of your oven and preheat it to 350°F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving some hanging over the edges as your handles (important for removal of cookie bar--see photos above) and set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or in a mixing bowl with a hand-held mixer), cream together butter and sugar until slightly fluffy, about one minute.
Add in the egg, vanilla extract and almond extract, and beat on medium-high speed for an additional minute. Turn the speed to low and add in the dry mix 1/2 cup at a time, waiting until each addition is fully incorporated before adding in the next--you may want a rubber spatula handy for this to help scrape down the bowl as necessary.
Once all of the dry mix has been added and is incorporated, turn the dough onto your prepared baking sheet and press it into an even layer in the pan (see photos above for reference).
Spread the chopped pecans in an even layer on top of the dough and gently press the pecans into the dough using your hands. Place the cookies into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the edges are slightly brown. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 1 hour, until the cookie is room temperature (you don't want to frost the cookie until it is completely cooled down).
Prepare your frosting by creaming the cream cheese (in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or with a hand-held mixer) until slightly fluffy, about 1 minute. Scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as necessary, add in the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, waiting for each cup to be incorporated before adding in the next addition. Once the frosting begins to appear super thick (around the 4th addition of powdered sugar, most likely) add in the rum and then continue with the remaining two additions of powder sugar. You want the frosting to be sturdy, as in slightly thicker than traditional cake frosting. If it is too thick, add a 1/2 tablespoon of milk at a time, mixing between each addition, until you've reached the desired consistency.
Transfer the frosting to a piping bag (or a zip-top bag) fitted with a piping tip (we used a #195 tip) or simply skip the piping tip and snip off the edge of your bag to begin piping. Pipe in swirls on top of the cooled cookie, ensuring you cover the entire base of the cookie.
Combine the coconut oil and rum in a mixing bowl and toss in bananas to coat evenly.
Place your bananas, cut side up, on top of the frosting in two even rows (see photos above). Sprinkle with a very generous amount of sanding sugar and use your brûlée torch to brûlée each banana individually, taking care not to flame the frosting as it will melt (which is also no big deal, it just looks prettier when the frosting is kept in tact).
Once the bananas have all been torched, place the entire pan into the refrigerator for 30 minutes to one hour to let firm up. This step can be skipped if you are in a rush, but it makes cutting them way easier and will yield a prettier product.
Use your parchment "handles" to remove the cookie from the pan and place onto a cutting board. Use a super sharp knife to cut the cookies into desired shapes. We did four rows down and seven across to yield 28 cookies. Serve just as they are or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and enjoy!
