How was your 4th of  July?  Did you serve our Seagram’s Peach Punch at your 4th gathering?

Our family spent last week enjoying the tropical paradise of Riviera Maya.  Spending time in the Caribbean got us in the mood for some great Caribbean Rum. Although we enjoy an excellent rum and coke from time to time, we decided to share another easy, fresh and tasty dessert.  This dessert is made with an excellent rum from Trinidad.  Zaya has a pretty rich color and the aroma just makes you relax and say, “No worries.”

Rhonda clipped this recipe from the Dallas Morning News years ago.  At the time she was not aware that we were going to start a blog, so she did not bother to clip the author’s name. Sorry….

The ingredients you will need for this delicious dessert are vanilla ice cream (we prefer Blue Bell vanilla bean), a 12.25 ounce jar of Smucker’s caramel topping, cinnamon, butter, orange liqueur, Zaya Rum, bananas, banana chips for garnish.

Empty the contents of the caramel sauce into a 10 inch saute’ pan and place over medium heat.  Add a pinch of cinnamon, butter, orange liqueur and rum. Bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium and simmer the sauce a few minutes to allow the alcohol to burn off.  This is Rhonda’s favorite part of preparing this dessert.  The molasses, cinnamon and buttery aroma that floats in the room as the sauce simmers is delish!  If only we could contain the scent and make it into a candle.  Warning:  the scent of the sauce simmering may bring teenagers and friends away from video games and cellphones to inquire what you are cooking!

After the sauce has simmered, remove from heat.  When ready to serve, scoop the ice cream into bowls or  serving dishes.  We like to serve desserts in our schooners when we can.  Slice fresh bananas over the ice cream.  Drizzle sauce over the top of the bananas and ice cream.  We like to have the sauce slightly warm when serving. It melts the ice cream slightly and enhances the flavor of the rum.  Garnish with banana chips or as you would like.  We couldn’t find any banana chips at the grocery store, so our dessert is not garnished.

You may have some sauce left over.  Keep it in a container in the fridge.  It is great for serving on ice cream sundaes.

The results of the dessert hinge on using a high quality rum.  We like Zaya because it has a delicious caramely, rich flavor that makes the sauce taste super complicated and expensive.

Zaya Rum Bananas Foster

1/2 gallon of vanilla ice cream

1 (12.25 ounce) jar Smucker’s caramel topping

Pinch cinnamon

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/8 cup orange liqueur

1/4 cup Zaya Rum

3 bananas peeled and sliced

Banana chips for garnish

Up to several hours before serving, empty the contents of the caramel sauce into a 10-inch saute’ pan and place over medium heat.  Add cinnamon, butter, orange liqueur and rum and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium and simmer the sauce for a few minutes to allow the alcohol to burn off.

When ready to serve, add the fresh sliced bananas to the sauce and bring to a simmer. Spoon bananas and sauce over ice cream in glasses.  Garnish with a banana chip and serve immediately.  Makes 7-8 servings.

Note:  You can add the bananas to the prepared sauce several hours in advance as the sugary mixture will prevent them from browning, although they will soften.  Simply reheat the sauce before serving.

Per serving:

Calories: 416 (33% fat)

This dessert is one of our family favorites.  Our youngest son requests bananas foster often. We hope you try out this easy recipe, and let us know if you like it.  Don’t forget Follow our blog, look for us on Pinterest, and share our blog with family and friends.

Cheers,

Rhonda and Craig