8. Banana Upside-Down Cake with Walnuts and Coconut
If you’re a fan of Bananas Foster, then this ultra-moist cake will be your upside-down dream come true. Coconut flakes and cream of coconut lend a tropical vibe and subtle nutty flavor.
Strudel, an eastern European pastry, is typically filled with spiced apples, poppy seeds, or walnuts—flavors endemic to the region. For food writer Ben Mims’ Banana-Coconut Strudel, coconut stands in for the nuttiness of seeds and nuts, and is balanced by caramelized bananas and dates for a very untraditional strudel. The strudel dough recipe comes from his mentor, Nick Malgieri, a baking instructor and cookbook author with years of strudel-making experience. Nick’s dough is unparalleled in how easy it is to use and manipulate to create a shatteringly crisp shell for the sweet, tropical filling.
Hazelnut and almond flours give this gluten-free banana bread a complex, earthy flavor. We love the addition of chopped hazelnuts, in lieu of pecans or walnuts, for a twist on the original.
11. Bananas Foster Monkey Breads
Everyone loves monkey bread. Everyone loves bananas Foster, a decadent dessert created at New Orleans’ Brennan’s Restaurant in the early 1950s. We simply put two and two together. The result: this magic mess.
12. Banana Chocolate Espresso Swirl Muffins
We’re not sure if these muffins are breakfast or dessert, but we promise not to judge if you eat one (okay, three) of them hot out of the oven. (They’re THAT good).
13. Banoffee Pie
This British pie import has been thoroughly absorbed into American tradition. With the winning combination of ripe bananas, sticky toffee, and whipped cream, it’s not hard to see why.
14. Sourdough Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
These muffins by Stacey Ballis are really fast to pull together since they use oil instead of butter, which eliminates the need to plan ahead for softened butter. If you keep overripe bananas in the freezer (see Note), then you can mix the batter in no longer than it will take your oven to preheat, and you’ll have fresh muffins in about a half an hour.
