This dessert with an intense chocolate flavor comes in two layers: a brownie textured top that covers a thick cocoa and banana mousse.
The idea of making this dessert came from the coincidence of having very ripe bananas to use (which would probably be the base of another banana cake - of the many I still have to try...) and also the fact that I was watching TV and switching to 24Kitchen channel and coming across one of Nigella Lawson's "cook, eat, repeat" episodes.
In this episode, she prepared her "chocolate tahini pudding" and as soon as I saw it, I told myself that since I had bananas and a jar of tahini in the pantry, this was exactly what I would serve for dessert at dinner.
Here, the texture inside is similar to a creamy mousse but served hot or warm rather than cold. I chose not to make the tahini whipped cream, nor to use the date syrup because the dessert (despite my adaptations) was already sweet enough.
The ingredients
Bananas - I used ripe bananas, as they are sweeter and so I could reduce the sugar in the original recipe. You can use frozen bananas but always drain the extra moisture they release.
Tahini - is the "butter" made from crushed sesame seeds. It can be substituted for peanut butter, almond butter, or cashew butter.
Greek yogurt - in the original recipe the amount of yogurt was smaller, but by using 125gr I was able to eliminate the oil used originally.
Egg - helps bind all other ingredients together. I haven't tried it, but the recipe may also work if it's omitted.
Dark brown sugar - I prefer to use dark brown sugar because it has a slight caramel flavor which pairs well with banana and cocoa. You can substitute with light brown sugar or coconut sugar.
Flour - together with the egg, it will help to bind the other elements that are mostly moist.
Powdered cocoa - although not much, it is enough for this dessert to have an intense chocolate flavor.
Baking soda - here the soda will create air bubbles in the dough when it is subjected to the heat of the oven and so the texture of this dessert is similar to that of a mousse.
Chocolate chips - are an ingredient that will accentuate the chocolate flavor even more, although it has also been reduced regarding the original amount.
Vanilla - is an optional ingredient that adds extra flavor to many desserts.
Banana, chocolate and tahini pudding recipe
Ingredients
250 g of
banana
50 g of tahini
125 g of Greek yogurt
1 egg
50 g dark brown sugar
60 g of flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
25 g of cocoa powder
40 g of chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
pinch of salt
- Peel the bananas and mash them until you get a puree.
- In a bowl, beat the egg with the sugar and a pinch of salt.
- Add the banana, yogurt, tahini and vanilla.
- In another bowl, mix the flour with the bicarbonate and cocoa.
- Fold the flour and cocoa mixture into the previous preparation.
- Add the chocolate chips.
- Grease a pyrex or other container (that can go in the oven) and pour the mixture.
- Bake at 160ºC for about 40 to 45 minutes.
- Serve hot or warm with a little whipped cream.
Adapted from "Chocolate tahini banana pudding with tahini cream and date molasses"
Notes on how to make
- If you don't have chocolate chips, you can simply break 40 g of a chocolate bar into small pieces.
- Another option is to serve this dessert in individual portions, and for this, place the preparation in bowls or ramekins and reduce the cooking time to about 25 to 30 minutes (or until the surface is cooked).
- If you serve it with whipped cream, I advise you not to serve it on top of the dessert because it will lose its consistency (the dessert is hot) and go back to being just liquid cream. (In the photo the dessert was cold when it was photographed with the whipped cream...)
- A better option (for my taste) is to serve it with a scoop of cream or vanilla ice cream.
