Banana Bailey's Crumble

As the month of February winds down and the weather hasn't quite figured out what it wants to do, the need to make something different stuck and struck hard. What could possibly

strike the fancy of a food seeker? Roaming the resident kitchen library, the decision was made to look through Bootleg Bakery: wickedly boozy treats inspired by the roaring twenties by Kiki Bee. Flipping through the illustrated pages of various treats, one seemed to be an interesting combination of flavors to try out. What could possibly go wrong?

Banana Bailey's Crumble 

3 ripe bananas

100 ml (6 1/2 tablespoons) Bailey's Irish Cream

2 tablespoons clear honey

100 g (3 1/2 oz) milk chocolate, roughly chopped 

For the crumble topping:

150 g (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) all-purpose flour

100 g (6 1/2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed

golden caster/natural cane sugar, for sprinkling

6 small ramekin dishes

1. Preheat the oven to 190° C (375° F) Gas 5
2. In a bowl, mash the bananas with the back of a spoon, then add the Bailey's and honey. Give the mixture a couple of good stirs, then divide between the ramekins (the mixture should come about two thirds of the way up the dish). Set aside while you make the crumble topping. 
3. Put the flour and butter in a large mixing bowl and rub between your fingers until you have a crumbley texture. Cool hands and a cool head are required, so don't overwork the mixture. 
4. Sprinkle the crumble topping over the Bailey's banana mixture, dividing it equally between the ramekins. Finally, sprinkle a little sugar on top of each crumble. Set the ramekins on a baking sheet and pop in the middle of the preheated oven to bake for about 12-15 minutes until the crumble is lightly golden. Serve immediately with a side order of vanilla ice-cream. 

- The Artist - 
     Though I had an enjoyable time making this recipe, there are some issues with the book itself that I would like to address before anyone decides to purchase a copy of their own. First off, as you may have already noticed with this particular food feature, there is a bit of a discrepancy  between ingredients and directions. The list of items has chocolate in it but the directions makes no mention of the ingredient, yet it is obvious in the dish in the photograph. This is not the first of a random set of editing oversights and missed corrections in the book. From mis-labeled oven temperatures to missing ingredients or directions, make sure you have your pencils ready to write in corrections. This particular recipe I didn't use any chocolate in it and it actually took a bit longer then expected for the crumble topping to brown. Flavor wise, on the other hand, was quite tasty and reminded me of perhaps a pudding version of banana bread. So warm and creamy! Even though I could smell the sweetness of the Bailey's, I really couldn't taste it since the flavors mixed so surprisingly well with the banana.