Banana and Walnut Tarts
Photography by Manja Wachsmuth.
These simple tarts are made using store-bought puff pastry, caramelised bananas and crunchy walnuts. It's a quick and easy dinner party dessert.
Serves: 4
INGREDIENTS
2 sheets pre-rolled puff pastry
Topping
100 grams butter, soft but not melted
½ cup caster sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
70 grams walnuts, finely ground
1 egg
To assemble
2 medium firm but ripe bananas
1 egg yolk
caster sugar for sprinkling
passionfruit syrup for serving
softly whipped cream
icing sugar
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180˚C.
Cut 2 x 12 cm circles from each piece of pastry and lightly score a 1 cm border around the edge of each circle. Place them on a lined baking tray and refrigerate while making the filling.
Filling: Mix the butter, both sugars and the cinnamon with a wooden spoon until smooth. Beat in the walnuts and the egg to make a thick paste.
Spread 2 tablespoons of the walnut topping evenly over each pastry circle, inside the border. Slice the bananas 1 cm thick and arrange 8-9 slices slightly overlapping, over the top. Brush the border with egg yolk then sprinkle the entire tart with a little caster sugar.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, turning for even browning, until puffed and golden.
Cool for 5 minutes then dust with icing sugar and serve with softly whipped cream or ice-cream and top with passionfruit syrup.
Passionfruit syrup can be bought in jars from supermarkets.
The walnut topping here makes enough for 10 x 12 cm tarts. Store any remaining topping in a sealed container in the freezer for future use.

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