Dulce de Leche Banana Tart

Warning!  This is hands down, the best dessert I have ever made.  Thank the good Lord I only made enough of these tarts to supply my guests or I could have inhaled half a dozen of these puppies.  Not only was this dessert spectacular, it literally took 20 minutes to make.  It really doesn’t get any better than this!!

The best trick of this recipe is utilizing puff pastry as the base.  I used a biscuit cutter to shape the pastry rounds into handheld desserts, perfect for an individual serving.  Be sure to follow the directions on preparing the puff pastry -- it’s important to top the cutouts with parchment and to place another cookie sheet on top.  This prevents the pastry to stay flat instead of puffing up all over the place.  Also, the recipe called for slivered almonds but I used pecans since I had them on hand -- I believe any nut would be an ok substitute!  

If you’re planning these for a dinner party, bake the pastries ahead of time and keep them in an airtight container to lighten the load a bit!  Enjoy!!

Dulce de Leche Banana Tart

2 sheets frozen puff pastry

1/2 c. chopped pecans, slivered almonds, or chopped walnuts

1/4 c. brown sugar

2 1/2 tsp honey

1 1/2 molasses

1 1/2 tsp unsalted butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 c. store bought dulce de leche 

4 bananas, thinly sliced

1. Preheat oven to 425.  Unfold puff pastry and cut out six 4 1/2 inch rounds {{or sized to your preference}}.  Prick pastry all over with fork.  Transfer to parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Cover with parchment paper and set another baking sheet on top.  Bake about 15 minutes {{less time if you made smaller cutouts!}}  Transfer to cooling racks.
2. In a skillet over medium heat, toast nuts about 4 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar, honey, molasses, butter, cinnamon and cloves.  Move back to heat and cook on medium until thick, about 5 minutes.
3. Spread Dulce de Leche over pastry rounds.  Arrange banana slices and spoon caramelized nuts over bananas.