If you love yourself you need to make these crispy waffles + bananas baked in ricotta!
I don’t know if it’s all the donuts or the cold outside or if I’m just being hormonal but lately I have been craving bigger breakfasts. Bigger, fatter, sweeter. Remember smoothies? Well, they’re my plan C now. Cereal or porridge make plan B and pancakes or these waffles with bananas are plan A. Who doesn’t love a good waffle on a cold morning?
It actually started the other way around with this recipe. I didn’t originally want waffles, I thought of a topping before I considered them as the base. Syrup is good, but if you can put something better on a waffle, then you should do it. These bananas baked in ricotta are a twist on a recipe I’ve had since 1997. I promise I am not making this up. I once mentioned this already, but I have a notebook of recipes from the after-school cooking classes I went to when I was 6 till I was 9 years old. These weren’t professional, they were created by our teacher and just really fun. We all had to pick some after school activities, and unlike singing in the school choir, these cooking classes also taught us all some skills and we often went home with bags of baked goods.
A while ago when I was flipping through this notebook I spotted the recipe for baked bananas. Reading it I just knew right away I had to make them and do so soon. I just couldn’t get the idea out of my head. All the other plans I had for breakfast and cooking in general flew out the window, because these baked bananas were suddenly all I wanted.
Now, the recipe suggests I eat these as a treat with a cup of tea, but that just doesn’t seem fair. Baked bananas aren’t a side. They’re not something you bake, forget all about and then think of when having tea, like a plain dipping biscuit. No, they don’t need tea, they are the tea. You make the bananas first and then find something to compliment them. Waffles, for example.
Back in 1997 we baked the bananas with cottage cheese, but in 2015 I’m choosing ricotta. I have to say you can hardly taste the difference. If anything, the ricotta is milder in taste, which lets the bananas shine through more and that is the whole point. It’s creamier too and makes these waffles with bananas just divine.
If you don’t like bananas and the idea of baked bananas is not appetizing to you at all, I hope you change your mind with this recipes. I may be a bit biased, since I generally love bananas, but they turn into something completely else when baked. The smell alone is just amazing. Their sweet rum-like aroma fills the kitchen and I can always hardly wait to take them out of the oven. The aroma is similar to banana bread, but stronger. The texture of bananas turns into a creme, so while they visually still somewhat resemble raw bananas, baked bananas are something you eat with a spoon. Combined with ricotta and cream this makes the perfect topping for waffles.
Crispy waffles with bananas baked in ricotta
A perfect weekend breakfast! Crispy waffles paired with creamy baked bananas and ricotta.
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 15 min
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2-4 servings 1x
- Category: Breakfast
Ingredients
Waffles
- 295g (1 3/4 cups) all-purpose flour
- 30g (2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 420 ml (1 3/4 cups) milk
- 90g (6 TBSPs or 3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste
- + sunflower oil or melted butter for cooking
Baked bananas
- 2 large bananas or 4 medium, peeled and halved lengthwise
- 100–150g (about 1/2 cup) ricotta cheese
- 120ml (1/2 cup) whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon light muscavado sugar (light brown sugar)
- + cinnamon for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Make the waffle batter:
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, melted butter and vanilla paste. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk thoroughly until combined and the batter is smooth. Set aside. - Set the oven to 220°C (430 degrees F).
- Grease a medium baking dish with melted butter or oil and place in the bananas, flat side down. You want the bananas to fit in tightly.
- In a small bowl, whisk together ricotta, cream and the sugars just until you get a smooth mixture. Pour over the bananas. Sprinkle extra brown sugar on top (optional).
- Bake for about 10 minutes, until the bananas are aromatic, golden and the cream mixture has thickened.
- While the bananas bake, start making the waffles:
Heat your waffle iron, brush the grids lightly with oil or melted butter. Pour enough batter over the grid to cover it, between 1/2 – 3/4 cup, close the waffle iron and cook waffles until golden and crispy, around 6-8 minutes. It is best if your first batch is the test one, to see how much batter your waffle iron can handle (it’s better to start with less batter than risk spilling it all over). - Place waffles on a large plate and serve like that, along with the bananas still in the baking dish. This keeps them warm longer and everyone can take as much as they want. On average, I would serve 2-3 waffles with 1 banana (or half of a large banana).
Notes
The baked bananas can be stored in the fridge (dish covered with plastic wrap) and served cold, but they are better straight out of the oven. You can keep them warm in the oven until you’re ready to serve. The baking dish itself (if using stoneware) stays hot for a while.
The same goes for waffles – keep them warm in the oven (turned off, but still warm from the baking) until serving time.
When baking the bananas, choose a dish that is just big enough for all. You don’t want too much space around them, you want walls to keep the cream in place.
The waffle recipe is borrowed fromBon Appétit (May 2008), waffles made with one slight addition – the vanilla paste.
Waffles and/or pancakes are my favorite breakfast!
I never thought of baking bananas in ricotta- it sounds amazing! Reading your post makes me wish I had done after school cooking classes! I just did after school art classes…fun, but much less delicious!
-Kelsey
Glad to hear that!
And art classes sound great too; art was always one of my favorite subjects. 🙂