Gluten-Free Banana Ganache Tart with Peanut Butter Cookie Crust Recipe

Banana Ganache Tart with Peanut Butter Cookie Crust

Whew, that’s a mouthful, isn’t it? You guys remember the peanut butter cookie recipe I posted not too long ago? Well, what I didn’t tell you then was that I only baked half the recipe as cookies. The rest I baked in a 8-inch loose-bottomed tart pan, thinking it might make a good crust for the right pie.

All I did was press the cookie dough thinly, yet evenly into the base of a loose-bottom tart pan. If I had enough dough, I would have gone up the sides, but I barely had enough to cover the bottom. I baked it for around 10 minutes. Since the dough was thinner than the cookies I kept my eye on it so it wouldn’t burn. It came out of the oven looking fine and smelling awesome.

As I searched the internet looking for a filling, thinking that gluten-free banana cream might be nice on a peanut butter cookie crust, but really wanting to dump a bunch of chocolate all over it, I stumbled upon a recipe for Banana Ganache on the Kitchen Unplugged blog. Only she calls it “Choco-ban-nache” which is a name I love, but won’t steal. Her recipe was more traditional, with heavy cream and corn syrup, so I put in my usual substitutions.Banana Ganche pie filling:

8 ounces chocolate (I had 60% chips in my pantry, so that’s what I grabbed.)
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 very ripe bananas, pureed
2 tablespoons maple syrup (I may omit this next time, as the ganache is really sweet.)

Heat coconut milk and maple syrup over medium heat until almost boiling.Pour over chocolate and stir until thoroughly melted. It will go all smooth and shiny. Stir in the pureed bananas. Allow to cool, then chill in refrigerator until a pudding-like consistency. Pour into baked pie crust then return to refrigerator and chill until set.

Slide the bottom of the pan up and out of its ring, there’s a pie. Tart. Banana ganache covered giant cookie thingy, whatever.

That’s honestly all there is to it, folks. It tastes a lot like my chocolate-dipped frozen bananas, but considering it’s essentially the same ingredients in slightly different proportions and arranged differently, I guess that’s no shock.

Now, this isn’t one to make ahead of time if you want a nice crunchy crust, because it will go soft and cake-like after a day or so. It’s still yummy, just more of a brownie-type texture. The banana ganache stays smooth and pudding-like. Feel free to serve with a dollop of… something. I vote for vanilla coconut milk ice cream, but I put that stuff on nearly everything.

——————————————

Author Information: Darla, Franklin, TN
In addition to teaching cake decorating classes, Darla is a pastry chef wannabe determined to create healthier versions of favorite dessert and treat recipes.
Website: http://www.cakedarla.com/
Email: cakedarla@gmail.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/cakedarla
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cakedarla