Warm Salted Caramel & Banana Tartlets

Perfect to end a gluttonous dinner a deux, the banana and salted caramel of these tartlets are a match made in heaven. These tasty bites are very easy to create and take no time at all, so what's not to love? Idle baking indeed.

Recipe
Adapted from the Banana Tarts recipe by Nigel Slater in his brilliant book Real Cooking.  Buy the book at Amazon by clicking here.

Makes 2 small cookie sized tarts




Offcuts of ready rolled puff pastry, approx 80g is all that's needed
2 bananas
1 tablespoon vanilla bean sugar (or caster sugar)
1 tablespoon butter
1 or 2 tablespoons salted caramel



1. Place the ready rolled offcuts of pastry onto a floured board, and cut into 2 decorative circles using a large cookie cutter. Place in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes

2. Turn the oven to 200C (180C) and get out a baking sheet.

3.  Gently melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low hob, before placing to one side to cool.

4. Peel the bananas, then slice them as thin or thick as you like.

5. Take the pastry out of the fridge, and place the 2 tart bases onto the prepared baking sheet. Layer the banana slices in circles over the bases, brushing the fruit and the pastry with the melted butter until they are well covered.

6. Next sprinkle the vanilla sugar over the tarts, before placing in the oven to bake for 10-12 minutes, until the bananas have softened and the pastry has puffed up.

7. When baked, take the tarts out of the oven and leave to cool for a moment.


for the salted caramel topping:
1 or 2 tablespoons good quality salted caramel (I used a jar from M&S)


8. As soon as the tartlets are out of the oven, heat the spoonfuls of salted caramel in another small saucepan over a low heat, until warm and runny.

9. Drizzle the warm caramel over the tartlets and serve immediately.

These tartlets were idly baked while listening to Lana Del Ray sing Video Games