Back by popular demand, our very own Mini Martha, Paris, shares her recipe for the most insanely delicious tart of all time. Taste-tested by the OC Worldwide staff especially for you.

Yesterday was a rainy day and I had nothing to do, so I decided to bake something difficult with all my free time. I made one of my favorite desserts of all time: Banana Brown Butter Tart with Spiced Caramel Sauce. I know bananas are not the first fruit that come to mind when you think of tarts but when I had this at Herbsaint in New Orleans I fell in love. If you have the time you NEED to make this.
 
Banana Brown Butter Tart with Spiced Caramel Sauce:
 
Crust:
1/3 cup of sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) of salted butter at room temperature
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 ¼ - 1 1/3 cups of flour (depending on the humidity)
 
Filling:
¾ cups of sugar
6 egg yolks (I know, it’s a lot!)
¾ of a cup (1 ½ sticks) of salted butter
1 ½ - 2 vanilla beans
1 cinnamon stick
1-2 whole cloves
¼ teaspoon of salt
½ a cup of all-purpose flour
2 small bananas
 
(Slightly adapted from Anne Weatherford’s recipe. Pastry chef at Herbsaint)
 
Caramel:
1 ½ - 1 ¾ cups of heavy cream (depending on how runny you like your caramel sauce)
1 tightly packed cup of brown sugar
¼ cup (half stick) of salted butter
¼ teaspoon of salt
1 clove
1 cinnamon stick
 
 
1. First prepare the crust: Put the salt and sugar in a large bowl, mix with fork, add softened butter and mix with an electric mixer just until blended. Add in egg yolks and vanilla on high speed. Add flour all at once and blend until just combined (the dough is meant to be very moist, and dont mix for very long or else the crust will come out tough). Turn off the mixer, gather the dough into a ball, then flatten into a disk. Cover in saran wrap and put it in the fridge for at least two hours and even better, overnight.
 
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Take the dough out of the fridge and grease the bottom and sides of a tart pan with a removable bottom with either softened butter or cooking spray. Press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the tart pan. Cover and put back into the fridge for at least 30 minutes (so that when put in the oven the crust can become very flaky). After done chilling for the second time, remove crust from the fridge and poke a few holes in the bottom with either a chopstick or fork.  Cover the tart in tinfoil and spread out pie weights over the foil. Put the tart in the oven for 10 minutes, then take off the tin foil and pie weights and continue cooking the tart for another 20-25 minutes until the top of the crust becomes a golden color.
 
3. Let the tart start to cool. While doing this cut the bananas on a slight diagonal, making long pieces. Arrange the banana pieces in circles inside the tart. Don’t make the pieces too thick or they won't soften enough in baking. Just make them a little shorter than the height between the top of the tart pan and the bottom crust.
 
4. Mix the egg yolks and sugar with a hand mixer on high for about 3 minutes until they reach a very light color and grow almost twice in volume.
 
5. Put the butter in a large skillet over medium to medium- high heat. While the butter is melting cut the cinnamon stick in half, cut a hole down the middle of the vanilla beans and scrape out the seeds. Once the butter is melted add the cinnamon stick, the whole vanilla bean, the vanilla bean seeds that have been scraped out, the clove/cloves, and the salt. Stir frequently until the butter browns (usually will have a thick layer of foam on top). This should take anywhere from 5-9 minutes. Take off heat once browned and take out vanilla beans, cinnamon stick, and clove/cloves (especially the clove, if bitten into it could break a tooth!).
 
6. Add the browned butter to the egg yolk mixture , a quarter cup at a time (You need to do this so that the hot butter doesn’t cook the egg yolks, and leave you with scrambled eggs in your tart eww) , and mix with the hand mixer. Make sure to get all the bits of cinnamon. vanilla bean, and clove that have dissolved off into the bottom of the pan (this is the best part). Mix until thoroughly incorporated. Then pour the browned butter mixture over the bananas. Place the tart back into the oven for 30-35 minutes until the tart filling is set and slightly browned.
 
7. While the tart is cooking make the spiced caramel. Put the heavy cream, packed brown sugar, butter, and salt in a deep saucepan or pot over medium heat. Stir frequently until it boils. Turn down heat and simmer, add clove and cinnamon stick. Let simmer for about 10-15 minutes, until it seems like the right consistency and color, stirring the entire time. When done take out the clove and cinnamon stick.  Pour the caramel into a measuring cup (you should put the caramel into a measuring cup so that it’s easy to drizzle onto the tart) (the measuring cup should be greased so that the caramel doesn't stick to it).
 
8. Once the tart is out of the oven let cool for at least 15 minutes, then pour the caramel sauce in a pattern over the tart and serve. There will be extra caramel sauce, which is great over brownies, ice cream, or even pretzels dipped in it.

FILED UNDER: mini martha , paris starn , interns , food , baking