Browned Butter Banana Tart is an easy dessert for all bakers of all levels. If you need an extra special and fancy dessert recipe, this is it! There are three simple parts to this tart dessert recipe: crust, filling, and sliced fresh bananas. Perfect for any time of year!

STEPS TO MAKE BROWNED BUTTER BANANA TART

First, you have the make the crust and pre-bake it. That means bake it half way. Second, you will add sliced bananas into the crust. Next, you will brown butter to make the filling. Lastly, you’ll finish making the filling, pour into the crust, and bake it until it’s golden delicious.

CRUST

• The crust is similar to a French style pastry crust. It contains basic tart ingredients like flour, butter, sugar, and salt. But, it also has yolks for extra flavor and color. Ingredients for crust:
  • ½ cup butter
  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • ¼ tea salt
  • 2 yolks
  • ½ tea vanilla
  • 1 ¼ cup flour
• Put all ingredients in a standing kitchen mixer with the paddle attached. Mix on lowest speed until small balls of dough form. Press this into a greased lined 9 inch tart shell. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes on a cookie sheet. The crust should be slightly golden. Cool.

BROWN BUTTER

• Browning butter takes a little time and patience. The reasoning for browning is to bring a nutty flavor to it. Butter does contain some milk solids, so if you cook it too long, it will burn and give off a bad scent.
• In a stainless steel small sauce pan, melt over medium heat:
  • 3/4 cup cubed unsalted butter
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Slightly stir. Let the butter bubble and turn into a nice golden color. This will take anywhere from 7-10 minutes. The butter should look become a golden brown color. Set aside for 20-30 minutes until room temperature. See photo below.

BANANAS AND FILLING

After the tart shelled as cooled (about 30 minutes at room temperature), sliced 1 medium banana and place it inside the tart shell.

The filling is very similar to a simple chiffon cake. The egg yolks are whipped and you fold in the dry ingredients.

• In a standing kitchen mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the filling ingredients until super light colored and fluffy, on medium-high speed. See photo below
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 3/4 cup white sugar

Sift 1/2 cup all purpose flour in a small bowl. Set aside

With the mixer running on low speed, slowly drizzle in the browned butter.

Remove the bowl from the standing mixer. Gently pour in the 1/2 cup flour. “Fold” in softly to the mixture with a rubber spatula. Think you are “scooping” the bottom of the bowl and incorporating the flour into the other ingredients. This should take a little time, about 5-8 minutes because you’re doing it by hand.

The mixture is uniform once it is a soft pale color with no visible flour lumps. Now pour this over the sliced bananas inside the tart shell. There may be some air bubble, feel free to “poke” ’em and release the air with a paring knife.

Place tart onto a cookie sheet. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 35 minutes. The top will look medium golden brown. There will be some darker golden spots.

Ta-da! The browned butter tart is finished! Let this cool at room temperature before serving. I cut this into 12 pieces.

Once you cut the tart, you will find the bananas have been “cooked” in the batter. It will simply look like a layer of cake with bananas.

Craving something berry-licious? Make my Berry Streusel Tart!

To decorate this, there are many simple ways to do it! Just make sure it is complete cooled before decorating. You can bake it the day before serving. Just make sure you store it in an airtight container in the fridge, if you do.

• Sift powder sugar over it (like how I did!)
• Make homemade whipped cream and spoon some on each slice
• Make Chantilly cream and spoon some on each slice
• Have leftover buttercream, frosting, or icing? Pipe some on the edges
• Have left over berries? Slice ’em up and add them to each piece

QUESTIONS ABOUT BROWNED BUTTER BANANA TART

There are so many steps, how do I schedule myself to bake this?

For the crust and browned butter mixture, you can make it a day ahead and leave on your counter. Or, make those two components the first thing in the morning, and finish the tart later in the afternoon.

This entire tart recipe can be made a day ahead and kept in the fridge. It holds great! Just decorate it 1 hour prior to serving time.

How do I know if I am browning butter correctly?

First, make sure you have a stainless steel pan and are using medium heat. The butter will turn into a golden color and give off a nutty scent.

To be honest, it is OK if you do not brown the butter too much.

Or, if you’re in a time crunch, you can simple use melted butter and not brown it

What kind of tart shell did you use?

Mine is a 9 inch round with a removable bottom. I bought it years ago. Here is one similar on Amazon.

Make sure you do grease it! Use a non-aerosol spray, melted butter and pastry brush, or veg oil and pastry brush.

When you bake the tart, place it on a cookie tray so crumbs will not fall into your oven.

Want some greater Seattle foodie recommendations? Check out some of my latest reviews here.

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