Banana Walnut Tart

Now this was one delicious dessert. I found this recipe in a cookbook called The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri. I had gotten a book of his many, many years ago from the library and made the most delicious apple cake ever. Of course, I can't find that recipe and don't remember which book it was in but I did remember the author's name. When I saw this on the discount rack for $5.99 at Borders I just couldn't resist. I thumbed through it and was sold when I saw this recipe. I always have bananas here and there comes a point when you want to try something other than a banana bread or cake. I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed this. The bananas in the tart melt down when this is baked and they are all sweet and gooey. Perfect with the crust and nuts. Pretty simple to make too. So if you are normally saving bananas for a bread, give this a try instead. My bananas were not very ripe like those used in banana bread but just a great yellow color with only a very few spots. You don't want them overly ripe for this recipe.

I am off from work for the next few days and plan on taking in a movie with my son and a friend tomorrow and just do some clothes shopping on Friday. Did you know I LOVE to shop for clothes???? Not just clothes, but shoes, pocketbooks, cheap jewelry, scarves, make up, books....I can go on and on!!!!

I am including the recipe for the Sweet Tart Dough which worked great in this recipe but I would imagine you could you use any tart dough you would like. This dough is made in a food processor like most of the recipe and I just love that. So much less clean up and you dont' have a ton of bowls to clean.

Sweet Tart Dough

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter cut into 8 pieces

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 tablespoon water

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse several times to mix.

Add the butter and pulse repeatedly until the butter is finely mixed into the dry ingredients - you do not want any visible pieces of butter.

Add the egg, egg yolk and water. Pulse repeatedly until the dough forms a ball.

Invert the food processor bowl over a floured work surface to turn out the dough. Carefully remove the blade and transfer any dough on it to the work surface. Form the dough into a disk about 1/2 inch thick. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate it.

This dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

The Filling

2/3 cup walnut pieces

1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Bananas and Finishing

3 large bananas (I used 4)

1/2 cup walnut pieces, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon dark rum (I omitted this since I didn't have any)

One 10 or 11 inch tart crust, unbaked

Set a rack on the lowest level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

For the fillling, pulse the walnut pieces and brown sugar in a food processor fitted with the metal blade until the nuts are finely ground. Add the butter, egg, egg yolk, cinnamon, vanilla, flour and baking powder. Pulse to make a thin batter.

Cut the bananas into 3/4 inch slices. Arranges slices evenly over the crust. Pour the filling over the bananas and spread evenly with the back of a spoon or a small offset spatula. Scatter the chopped walnuts over the filling.

Bake the tart until the crust is baked through and the filling is set and nicely golden.

Remove the tart from the oven, place on a rack, and immediately sprinkle with the rum (if using that). Cool the tart completely before slicing.

*Note: I used pecans for the topping since I ran out of walnuts. This took about 30 minutes to bake. The instructions at that point kind of threw me because I like to see a number regarding how long to bake something, but just keep an eye on it after 15 or 20 minutes......