Valentine’s Day is this week, so I’ve decided to share a dessert recipe today. Berries are a classic choice for this holiday – but I’ve already done a few berry recipes that you can find online on our website. I decided to use banana as the main flavor in this dish. I also utilize browned butter – so this recipe is like the cheesecake version of banana bread.

Ingredients

2 packages of cream cheese, softened

2 sticks of (salted) butter, browned

½ vanilla bean pod

3 overripe bananas, fried according to the #28 Fried Bananas Recipe

Honey to taste (if avoiding sugar, try using sugar-free coffee syrup in Caramel or Salted Caramel flavors)

2 eggs

1 cup Chocolate morsels

Favorite cookie crust, either homemade with cookie crumbs and butter, or store-bought ready made version. I highly recommend using a chocolate crust.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. If desired, par-bake your pie crust for 8 minutes.
2. In a small saucepan, brown the two sticks of butter on medium heat. Browning is complete once the butter develops a fine foam on top and the milk solids are a nice chestnut brown at the bottom.
3. In a large bowl, slowly combine the browned butter with the cream cheese with a hand mixer. Add in the inside of half of a vanilla bean pod (slice lengthwise and scrape out, discard pod)
4. In a buttered skillet, fry the overripe bananas according to Recipe Roundup #28, Blend individually until smooth, then blend into the cream cheese mixture.
5. At this point, take a moment to taste your mixture. Depending on the sweetness of your bananas and how sweet you want the final product, add 2 – 5 tablespoons of honey.
6. Once you’ve achieved the sweetness you desire, blend in the two eggs and chocolate morsels, then pour into the pie crust.
7. Bake for 20-25 minute at 300 degrees or until mixture is slightly firmer. Chill completely before serving. Enjoy! Feel free to serve with chocolate sauce or even more fried bananas!