Salted Caramel Banana Baked S’mores Dip

The perfect way to end summer and begin fall: With a decadent combination of salted caramel, bananas, chocolate and marshmallows. 

Summer is on the breadth of extinction- for 2015, anyway. For me, it is already past it’s expiration date as school started nearly two weeks ago- marking the end of a very restful two months. While I’m glad to return to my daily routine, I dread this upcoming year. I’ve spent nearly twelve years at my school and become sort of a home away from home- my friends, my teachers- it’s like a little family on it’s own, and it’ll be strange to make the transition to college. With that said, I am excited for what this year has to offer as well. I was always afraid of the seniors, who walked with a certain air and poise- as if they owned the school. And now I’m in that very position. So far, so good.

Today I bring you somewhat of a transitional dessert- an in-between summer and fall sort of recipe. The ease and warmth of putting together a s’more by the campfire paired the cozy decadence of salted caramel drenched bananas. But unlike a traditional s’more, you don’t need the crackling wood or yellowish flames of a fire, though that would be nice. You can make this dish using only the simplicity of an oven.

We’re going to make a salted caramel banana baked s’mores dip.

Things to consider:

1. I made my own caramel sauce because the only store-bought type I like is made by Marks and Spencer, which I did not have on hand. You could use your favorite variety.
2. I used miniature marshmallows because they melt faster- Jumbo would work fine as well, you’d probably use less though.
3. This isn’t a particularly thick dip. The bed of marshmallows will make way to reveal an amalgamation of melted chocolate, caramel sauce and bananas- it has a slightly runnier consistency- more like a chocolate fondue or chocolate ganache.
4. This does store in the refrigerator (if it lasts), where it will thicken slightly, but only a day or so. Fruit needs to be eaten fresh.
5. Serve the dip warm out of the oven with ginger cookies if you’ve got some on hand. Those add to the essence of fall- and also pair beautifully with the ingredients of the dip.

With all that out of the way, it’s time to make this salted caramel banana baked s’mores dip recipe!

Salted Caramel Banana Baked S’mores Dip

The perfect way to end summer and begin fall: with a decadent combination of salted caramel, bananas, chocolate and marshmallows. 

Yield: 10 people

Prep: 10 minutes minutes

Cook: 5 minutes minutes

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Ingredients

For the salted caramel sauce:

• 3 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp light corn syrup
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp butter, salted or unsalted works fine
• ¾ cup heavy cream
• 1- 1 ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract, optional

For the s’mores dip:

• ½ cup salted caramel sauce
• 1-2 bananas, sliced one way then the other
• 200 g between 7-8 oz chocolate, chopped
• 2 ½ cups miniature marshmallows
• Cookies and fruit to serve it with

Instructions

To make the salted caramel:

• In a small pan, add the water, corn syrup and sugar. Then stir just to combine.
• Place the pan over medium heat without stirring. You can swirl the pan. To prevent sugar crystals from forming on the sides, dip a brush in some water and gently brush off the sides until the crystals are gone.
• Just when the caramel becomes a bubbly amber color, turn off the heat. This should take between 5-7 minutes. Be careful not to overcook as burnt caramel is not tasty.
• Stand back (this is known to splatter) and add the butter and heavy cream. When the mixture calms down slightly, stir the ingredients until the sauce is silky smooth.
• Add the salt and vanilla and stir to taste. Start by adding ½ tsp salt and then add more if you’d like.
• Cool the sauce and store in a container in the refrigerator until ready to use. This lasts about 2 weeks in the fridge and even longer in the freezer.
• This recipe makes 1 cup of sauce and you only need half of it to make the dip.

To make the s’mores dip:

• Preheat the oven to 200 C or 400 F.
• In an 8 inch skillet, saucepan or dish (whichever you use, it should be oven proof), pour in ½ cup of caramel sauce.
• Add the sliced bananas and stir gently. Pat the mixture so that it coats the bottom of the pan.
• Sprinkle atop the chocolate chunks as evenly as possible.
• Finally, top with the marshmallows until the chocolate and caramel is barely visible underneath.
• Place the dish on the top of your oven rack and bake for a minimum of 5 minutes or until the marshmallows are melted and their tops are a beautiful golden brown.
• Serve with sliced fruit on a toothpick/fork, gingersnap cookies, graham crackers or digestive biscuits.

Notes

S’mores dip adapted from Melissa Harrison of Buzzfeed, Caramel Sauce adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours cookbook (a.k.a my favorite cookbook).

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Chocolate, Dessert, Holiday recipes

Got bananas to spare? I’ve got you covered!

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