Chocolate Banana Hazelnut Crumble with Vanilla Custard Sauce

The chosen recipe for this month's Sweet Punch was Pear and Chocolate Crumble with Almonds. I wasn't too keen on trying baked pears so I decided to use bananas instead. Then I realised I didn't have almonds at home so used hazelnuts. Finally, the recipe got adapted quite a bit but the end result was amazingly delicious. Its quite light since they are individual portions and with the vanilla custard sauce that I usually serve with my apple crumble, this was was a sure winner. What's more, this is a super simple eggless dessert for those of you who don't eat eggs in any form!

With each spoonful, I kept asking TH, "isn't this delicious?" as if I wasn't responsible for the deliciousness. It really was that good. Its super easy to make and there are no exotic, hard to find ingredients either.

Chocolate Banana Hazelnut Crumble
Adapted from here
Serves: 6

Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas
1/4 cup brown sugar (white should work too)
1/2 cup hazelnuts (or almonds)
A generous pinch of powdered cinnamon (optional)
100gm chopped bittersweet chocolate (you can also use milk chocolate or semi sweet - choc chips not recommended since they are designed not to melt)

For the crumble:
100gm / 3/4 cup plain four (or, try atta)
55gm  / 1/4 cup chilled butter
10gm chopped bittersweet chocolate (I omitted this)
A pinch of salt, if using unsalted butter

How I Made It:

1. Toast the hazelnuts in a dry pan until browned on few sides. Cool and chop into small pieces.



2. Chop up the chocolate.  I used these gorgeous Lindt bittersweet discs I got from Sydney and they were so delicious, all melted and gooey in the crumble.



3. Cut the banana into small pieces and mix in a bowl with cinnamon, chocolate, sugar and the hazelnuts. Spoon equal portions into 6 ramekins (no need to grease) or one pie-dish, if you wish. Make sure you spoon in any juices and liquids too.



4. Add diced, chilled butter to the flour (+salt) and use fingertips to mix together, until it resembles bread crumbs. Add the chocolate (if using), and mix well. Lay over the banana mixture and press gently.

5. Bake in a 180C preheated oven for about 35-40 mins until the top turns brown and the mixture is all bubbly.



Serve with vanilla ice-cream or vanilla custard sauce, recipe below.

Vanilla Custard Sauce (with egg)

Beat with a fork, 1 egg yolk with 1 teaspoon cornflour and add 2 tablespoon sugar with that. Add one cup warm milk and beat well again. Cook on a low fire stirring constantly until pouring custard consistency. Add 1/2 tsp vanila essence, cool, chill and serve with warm apple crumble.

Vanilla Custard Sauce (eggless)

Blend vanilla flavoured custard powder with 1.5 cups of milk and 4 tbsp sugar (adjust to taste). Cook on a low fire until pouring consistency. Cool, chill and serve with warm apple crumble.

Banana Bread Step-by-Step Recipe

What's all the fuss about, you ask? Well, you have to try it to know why. I still don't know why this is called 'bread' instead of cake but I do know that its actually somewhere in between and tastes awesome toasted.

This is also a fool-proof recipe. Really. Just throw some things together in a bowl, whisk it and bake it to get this awesome loaf full of a yummy banana flavour.

We rarely buy more than 4 bananas at at a time so mine is a one banana banana bread recipe. Is that too many bananas in one sentence yet? ;)

Here's some of the star cast. A banana (because this is a one banana banana bread recipe, remember? Ok, I'll stop!), 2 eggs, nuts - walnuts being the most popular but I added what I had in hand, a handful of hazelnuts and a couple of macademia nuts which somehow made their way into my pantry and I have no idea from where.

Step one - mash the banana up. I used a masher because something about getting squishy banana pieces on my fingers turns me off.

Next, whisk together 1/2 cup butter at room temperature (ignore that I melted it, I always do that 'cuz I forget to put the butter out but please don't be like me) and 3/4 cup sugar. I used brown sugar but white is ideal.

Once the sugar has completed blended in with the butter, thrown in 2 eggs. You don't have to beat anything to death or make things fluffy, just combining well will do. So combine the eggs well.

Now throw in the mashed banana. Since that's not a very pretty picture, I am going to quickly move on.

Before you add the flour, thrown in 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract. I spent a bomb on my vanilla extract, the more authentic (and so more expensive) stuff actually tastes infinitely better, so you should go crazy and do the same.

Now, add 1 cup all purpose flour / maida and a pinch of salt. Some recipes call for baking powder. I didn't add any and it still came out nice and fluffy so stay with me here, ok? Combine the flour well into the mixture. Again, no excessive beating please.

The final addition - about 3/4 cup of roughly chopped nuts. I gave them a couple of twists in my mixer so they are all of different sizes but that's ok. Its banana bread, anything goes. By the way, nuts are optional.

Combine combine combine.

Pour into a greased loaf pan.

Bake in a 350F/180C pre-heated oven for about 40-50 mins, until a skewer inserted into the loaf comes out clean.

Let it sit in the loaf pan and cool completely. Then transfer to a plate/cake board and cut into 1"thick slices. Why 1"? Because I say so!

One banana banana breads are very photogenic so go ahead and take some nice shots. Actually, any banana bread should be photogenic so don't get discouraged by the one-banana theory.

Thanks for enduring my craziness. Now, here's the recipe all in one place.

One Banana Banana Bread Recipe

Makes one medium-sized loaf

Source - took bits and pieces from countless banana bread recipes

What I Used:

1 ripe banana

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar, I may add slightly less next time

2 eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour/maida

1/2-3/4 cup nuts of your choice

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

A pinch of salt

How I Made It:

1. Mash the banana well and set aside.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together until soft and the sugar has blended well. Add the eggs and beat more until well combined.

3. Add the mashed banana and mix well. Then add the vanilla extract and mix again.

4. Next, add the flour and a pinch of salt. Combine without beating, to form the dough without any lumps.

5. Transfer to a greased loaf pan and bake in a pre-heated oven at 350F/180C for 40-50 mins until a skewer inserted into the loaf comes out clean.

6. Cool completely before cutting into slices.

You can freeze banana bread for up to a month. Just leave it in the fridge overnight to defrost. Also tastes great toasted, with a pat of butter.