If you like a sweet, but not overly sweet pick-me-up pastry to accompany that afternoon cuppa, these mini banana galettes are it! Crisp pastry, layered with chopped nuts lightly tossed with cocoa, and crowned with golden banana slices- we are in tastebud heaven!
Our banana galette is inspired by the beloved Mauritian pastry: ‘tarte banana‘ or banana tart. The traditional tarte banana has a shortcrust pastry base, a stewed and mashed banana filling and a pastry lattice on top. The combination of the crisp crust and banana filling with a hint cocoa is an absolute winner. Check out our images of mini tarte bananes here.
Tarte banane making is a labour of love. In order to be able to satisfy more of our cravings for the sweet pastry, we simplified the process of making it. However, our cheat’s version deviated a tad too much from the original that we could not call it a cheat’s tarte banane. Behold instead, our easy mini banana galettes. We replaced the tart shell moulding and lattice work with a rustic galette making process. We also scrapped the stewing of the banana by opting for banana slices. Whilst not quite a tarte banane, it is just as delicious with a fraction of the effort involved!
TIPS AND TRICKS FOR MAKING THIS BANANA GALETTE
– Keep the dough cold at all times
– If the galette starts cracking too much when you fold it, the dough maybe too cold. Give it a few minutes at room temperature before trying again.
– Baking the galette from cold results in a flakier texture.
– To simplify the process, make the galette dough a couple of days in advance and keep in the fridge. Moreover, the mini galette rounds can be rolled a day ahead and kept in the fridge overnight.
Mini Banana Galettes
Ingredients
For the galette dough
- 160 g flour
- 125 g butter
- 1½ tsp sugar
For the filling and assembly
- 3 ripe bananas (not mushy)
- 30 g almonds
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp cocoa powder
- egg wash, for brushing (or milk)
- a pinch sugar, for sprinkling, OR
- small handful almond flakes (optional)
Instructions
For the galette
- Place the flour, sugar and butter in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Alternatively, rub in the butter by hand.
- Tip the mixture onto a clean surface and bring into a dough ball. Slightly press the ball into a disc, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to overnight.
For the filling
- Finely chop the almonds and mix with the sugar, cocoa and vanilla extract in a bowl.
- Thinly slice the bananas (approximately 4-5 mm in thickness).
For the assembly and baking
- Take the dough out of the fridge 10 mins prior to rolling.
- Cut the dough into 6 roughly equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Roll each ball between 2 pieces of parchment into a 3-4 mm thick circle, around 10 to 12 cm in diameter (no need to be precious about getting a perfect circle).Alternatively roll the dough out into a sheet and cut out circles around 10-12cm in diameter. Gather the remaining dough and repeat the process until you have 6 circles.
- Place 2 tsp of the almond mixture in the centre of the dough round and spread around, leaving a 2cm edge at the border.
- Arrange the banana slices, overlapping the slices slightly (6-8 slices per mini galette) on the almond mixture leaving the 2 cm border uncovered. The bananas will shrink slightly in the oven.
- Start to fold the edge of the dough up and over the bananas. Keep folding from one side, overlapping the dough edge as you go around (see picture in post).
- Warm the honey for 10 to 15 seconds in the microwave to loosen and brush over the bananas.
- Brush the folded dough edge with egg wash or milk and sprinkle with brown sugar or almond flakes.
- Arrange the mini galettes on a baking tray and pop into the oven until the oven is pre-heated. This allows the galettes to cool before baking.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Bake for 20 mins or until crisp and golden at 200°C. Place on an oven rack to cool.
- Enjoy warm or at room temperature with a hot cup of tea.