Bananas Flambé

When Claire Saffitz and her sisters were kids, their dad, a great lover of New Orleans cuisine, would make them bananas Foster, a dish of bananas flambéed in rum, immortalized at Owen Brennan’s restaurant, Vieux Carré, in the 1950s. When developing this recipe, Saffitz asked him for tips for making the dish. His response: “Add a lot of booze and stand back!”

Although this recipe includes the rum and banana liqueur traditionally used in bananas Foster, it’s a saucier version of the classic and uses heavy cream at the end to bring the mixture together into a boozy, butterscotch-y sauce. She serves it over whipped mascarpone, but you can use vanilla ice cream instead. It’s a quick recipe that takes just 20 minutes from start to finish. Use ripe but firm bananas and pay close attention to your heat throughout, which will help ensure the bananas caramelize without falling apart. Top with roasted macadamia nuts for an added crunch.