The Non-Dessert Dessert

Happy Saturday everyone! We hope your weekend is off to a good start. We got our first snow of the season this week, so today we’re headed off to sled! While I prefer warmer temperatures and clean sidewalks, I have to admit that sledding makes the snow a bit more tolerable. I’m not a skier, but I LOVE to sled. And of course, the kids are loving it too!

Incidentally this next Nicaraguan recipe,Maduros, would be a great meal or snack to serve after coming in from the cold. It’s technically a dessert recipe, but I ate mine for lunch, the kids ate theirs for an after school snack and Mike had his for breakfast the next day.

Maduros is a sweet dessert featuring the plantain, and it just so happens the plantains we picked up at the store are actually from Nicaragua. Miss A was very excited about that.

Now for this dessert, the plantains needed to be extremely ripe for that extra bit of sweetness. We peeled our plantains and cut them into pieces before adding them to the sauce pan. Miss A then poured milk into the sauce pan and we brought the contents to a boil.

Next we reduced the heat and let the plantains simmer in the milk until they were fork tender.

This took about 10 minutes at which point we added agave nectar, dark brown sugar, cinnamon sticks and vanilla.

We let the plantains simmer for another five minutes and then removed them from the heat.

Next we poured the contents of the sauce pan into a greased baking dish and tossed it in the oven at 350F for 30 minutes.

At this point the maduros are technically done and ready to serve; however, we thought it needed something to jazz it up a bit. Now ice cream would certainly suffice and would no doubt be delicious with the warm maduros, but we went a different direction. As we mentioned before, it seems as though whenever the contestants on Chopped don’t know what to make with their dessert basket they prepare a pain perdu. We’ve never eaten pain perdu for dessert before (and apparently we still haven’t), but it seemed like a decent match for the maduros.

Our first dish we made using some banana bread we happened to have on hand (imagine that!). We toasted the banana bread in a bit of butter in a skillet and topped it with the maduors.

Now why we’ve never used our banana bread as French toast before is beyond me – it is seriously good! The warm sauce from the maduros makes the banana bread melt in your mouth and is full of syrupy-banana-goodness.

We also tried the maduros over a more traditional French toast. In this dish we used a variation of our Bermuda French toast and whisked together eggs with orange juice for the batter. We then fried up the bread and topped it with the warm maduros.

The citrus infused pain perdu was again a nice complement to the maduros. Mr. N was particularly fond of this version of our “dessert.”

As for our overall opinion of the Nicaraguan maduros, Miss A and I both really enjoyed the banana bread version. The citrus French toast was good as well (and Mr. N’s favorite), but that banana soaked banana bread – Wow! The recipe gets a 3 spoon vote from the kids and I. The only thing we would do differently next time is to use bananas in place of plantains. Try as we might, and we have tried, the texture of the plantain just doesn’t work for the kids and I, but I have no doubt by using bananas that this recipe would move up to 4 spoons.

Mike, however, was happy with the plantains. He doesn’t mind the texture and thought the maduros were especially good for breakfast over warmed, buttered toast. Now maybe one of these days we’ll actually get around eating this for dessert. 😉

Print this recipe: Maduros

52 thoughts on “The Non-Dessert Dessert”

  1. Alice says:
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    Hi! I’m using this recipe to make maduros for a spanish project for school and I had a couple questions, 1. I know this might be a silly question but what are the measurements? 2. Did you leave the cinnamon sticks in when you baked them? Thanks! Can’t wait to make it 🙂

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    • Kristy says:
      Reply

      Hi Alice,
      The measurements are:
      3 medium plantains, ripe
      3 c skim milk
      2 cinnamon sticks
      1/3 c agave nectar
      1/2 c packed dark brown sugar
      1 t vanilla

      There’s a link to the recipe at the bottom of the post. And yes, we left the cinnamon sticks in the dish to bake with the sauce and plaintains. Hope you enjoy them. Have a great day!

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  5. smartfoodandfit says:
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    Brilliant idea, using banana bread as French toast. I’m in the mood for French toast after reading Linda’s post. I can’t get the panettone bread out of my head to use for French toast. Anyhow, have fun sledding, my boys are out sledding too w/ my hubby! Have a great weekend!

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  7. Just A Smidgen says:
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    I’ve never tasted plantain… now I have something to try:) But based on Miss A’s reviews, I might just stick with bananas! I’ve also never eaten banana bread french toast! (only pumpkin bread french toast at a restaurant… that one was way too rich for me!) I love banana bread and would love to try this with your pretty topping. Oh, and I had to google pain perdu… who knew, it’s French Toast!! I’ve been making pain perdu my whole life and never even knew! Lol!

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    • Kristy says:
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      Plantains are very starchy and have the subtle taste of being a vegetable. I can’t say I don’t like them, but I prefer bananas and will be trying this recipe again with them. 🙂

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  10. Kay aka Babygirl says:
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    I agree with you, I’ve never been fond of plátanos.. sorry that’s the Spanish way of saying it lol. My mother loved them.. she usually fries them into little fritters. But I do think these dishes would go great with bananas.. and that french toast.. LOVE IT

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  12. Deborah says:
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    My mom and I always laugh about everyone on Chopped always making French toast, too! I’ve only had plantains once – made into plantain chips – but this sounds delicious. I just need to find some ripe plantains now!

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  14. Courtney says:
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    You had extra banana bread lying around – I am so shocked! lol. I think this looks like a great recipe – and the idea of serving it with banana bread french toast is just way too creative in a very good way.

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  15. Aimee@clevermuffin says:
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    Do you know what’s super cute? Now when I read your recipes I always am thinking “hmmm… wonder what the kids thought, how many spoons does it get?” and I find I judge it by that! Your grading system has become integrated into my reading 🙂 Do you know what the difference is between the plantain and a banana? I might have to google this… I’m not sure I get plantain and this looks delicious.

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    • Kristy says:
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      LOL. It’s funny how often we use the spoon system now too. We find ourselves doing it even when we’re not blogging about the food. 🙂 The plantain is more starchy than a regular banana. It’s also used mostly for cooking and isn’t eaten raw. It does have a taste similar to a banana, but also feels more like a vegetable. 🙂

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  16. sallybr says:
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    Brazilians are partial to bananas (the real thing, not plantains) – so I definitely would make it with bananas, for the texture. Very nice departure, the pain perdu idea….

    I would probably have it as a lunch too – I eat very little at breakfast, this would probably fill me up until dinner time 😉

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  18. Charles says:
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    I’m on the fence about plantains. I don’t think I dislike them, but everything about them makes me think “banana” and when they’re all cooked up it’s like… not even remotely banana-y. I cut some into fries the other day and deep-fried them. Once done, with some salt they were ok… the best “fries” came from the plantain which was riper than the other, so maybe that’s the key… to have decently ripe ones.

    They have a great colour in your dish Kristy – cooked up with all the milk and yummy stuff I’m not surprised, and I’m just loving the idea of banana bread French toast (I told you they call it “lost bread” (pain perdu) in France, right, lol?) – seems like the perfect accompaniment for the meal 🙂

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  21. ChgoJohn says:
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    Zounds, Kristy! (I wanted to say “wow!” but it’s already been used.) Yes, for the first time this season, it’s a sled day. Yippee! I agree with you about plantains. I’ve not had them frequently enough to get passed their texture issues. BUT, banana bread french toast? Oh my goodness! This I simply must try!

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  22. spicegirlfla says:
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    wow Kristy…I love this! I just posted an orange french toast dish and then opened up your post!! I could have tweaked mine a bit more after reading yours!! I love plantains – they are used alot done here with all the latin dishes. Beautifully done and Miss A is always a sweetheart in her pics!

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  25. Kelly @ Inspired Edibles says:
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    What a creative recipe Kristy… and I love how you used some of the banana bread for your pain perdu…Like Mike, I’m quite happy with plantains but I would equally love it with banana (I mean, who wouldn’t? ;)). The vanilla-cinnamon seasonings must taste positively delicious!

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    • Kristy says:
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      The syrup – especially over the banana bread – was out of this world. I ate mine for lunch while working and found myself oohing and ahhing out loud to myself. LOL. 😉

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  26. Geni - Sweet and Crumby says:
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    Good Morning Kristy! It’s so nice to wake up and see your smiling little ones and a beautiful dish with something amazing! French toast with YOUR BANANA BREAD! Why haven’t you thought of this before? I DO agree with you on that account! The plantains look like just the accoutrement to your decadent French toast. My daughter and I would so like to be at your breakfast table today. Cheers.

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    • Kristy says:
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      I know right?! I’ve been missing out for too long. You can bet we’ll be making banana bread French toast nearly every time we have a banana bread on hand from now on. 😉

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