Last Sunday night I was craving a real dessert, the kind from a restaurant. But I was in no shape to venture out after the day I had - a hard swim, a 4 hour bike ride in the rain, and 5 wet dog walks. Putting on regular clothes and changing out of my favorite soft pants to go back out in the rain: not an option. By the way, it does rain in LA, as I found out an hour into the bike ride.
Determined to have dessert, I decided to get creative and make something with what I had on hand. As we know, this rarely happens with me in the kitchen. I'm not an experimenter when it comes to cooking and most of my concoctions end up in the trash can instead of in my stomach.
But not this time! It's a shock, even to me, but I made something really tasty. I cooked a banana in coconut oil with cinnamon and sugar and put it in a bowl with a square of dark chocolate. The hot banana pieces melted the chocolate into a hot fudge-like sauce. Topped with greek yogurt and toasted coconut, my creation came together just like the restaurant dessert I was craving. It was so good that I thought I'd share it with you guys, for your next rainy (or snowy) night in.
-Laurel
Bananas + Dark Chocolate
serves 1
1 banana
1/2 teaspoon coconut oil
1 2" square of dark chocolate
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of sugar
1 scoop of plain greek yogurt
1 teaspoon toasted coconut flakes
Put square of dark chocolate in a cereal bowl or small plate.
Heat coconut oil in a small nonstick frying pan (like an omelet pan) on medium. When oil is melted, slice banana into disks, right into the pan.
Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and cook bananas for about 2 minutes on each side, or until they get soft and start to caramelize.
Using a spatula, lift the bananas right from the pan to a bowl or plate with the dark chocolate. The heat from the bananas will melt the chocolate.
Top with a scoop of greek yogurt and some toasted coconut.
