Salted Peanut Butter and Banana Tart
Makes a 9-inch tart and Serves 8
Adapted from I Will Not Eat OystersFor Crust:
25 – 28 Biscoff lotus cookies (about 200 – 225 grams) (if you can’t find Biscoff cookies, graham crackers also work)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
½ teaspoon sea salt flakes
For Peanut Butter Filling:
1 cup smooth peanut butter
½ cup cream cheese, room temperature
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
⅔ cup powdered/confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon sea salt
4 teaspoons heavy cream
For Chocolate Ganache:
100 grams dark chocolate, chopped (I find baking bars tend to melt better; and aim for 60% -70% dark chocolate)
½ tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup heavy cream
2 ripe bananas, sliced
Sea salt flakes, for decoration
For Crust:
Add the Biscoff cookies to a food processor. Pulse the cookies until the mixture consists of fine crumbs.
You don’t want powder, but it’s also ok to have slightly larger crumbs still in the mixture.
In a large bowl, add the cookie crumbs, melted butter, and salt. Combine everything until the butter has coated all the crumbs. You’ll see this happening when the cookie crumbs start to turn a darker brown.
Grab your pie baking tin and add all of the crumb mixture to the tin. Using a spoon, slowly press the mixture down so that it creates a firm, even base (this will take a few minutes). Make sure you press the mixture up the walls of the tin in order to make a nice outer crust. Be sure there are no gaps in the crust.
Once done, place the tin in the fridge and let it sit for at least 30 minutes to cool and firm up.
For Peanut Butter Filling:
In a large bowl, add the peanut butter, cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, sea salt, and heavy cream. Using an electrical mixer, with a whisk attachment, mix the ingredients until light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes.
Once the crust has firmed up, add the banana slices to the bottom of the crust. I like doing them in a circular pattern and evenly dispersing them around the crust, but you can layer the banana pieces however you like.
Pour the peanut butter filling over top the bananas. Using a spatula, spread the peanut butter filling evenly over the entire crust and bananas.
The initial process of spreading the peanut butter might be a bit tricky because the banana slices can easily move. If this happens, I like using a fork with one hand, to hold the bananas in place, and using the spatula in the other hand to spread the filling.
Once the filling has surrounded the majority of the bananas, spreading the filling, smoothing out the top, and filling in any gaps becomes much easier.
Put the tart back in the fridge and let it cool and firm up for at least an additional 30 minutes.
For Chocolate Ganache:
Complete this step only after you have added the bananas and peanut butter to the crust and have let them cool in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Once you’re ready, place the chocolate and butter in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the heavy cream over medium heat. Heat the cream until hot, but make sure it’s not simmering. Be vigilant, as you’ll start to notice small bubbles starting to form right before the mixture would start simmering.
Pour the cream over the chocolate and butter. Using a spatula, slow stir the mixture, helping to melt the chocolate and butter, and to better combine the ingredients.
Once all the chocolate and butter have melted, and the liquid has taken on a uniform color, slowly pour the ganache over the peanut butter cream filling. Help it spread and settle by tilting the pie pan in a circular motion. Use a spatula if you still need help spreading the ganache evenly.
Put the finished tart in the fridge and let it set and cool for at least 30 minutes.
About 10 minutes into cooling, add a few sprinkles of sea salt flakes over top the cake (if you add the salt flakes to the hot ganache, you risk them dissolving and losing the gorgeous decorations!).
Enjoy!
