In the Kitchen: Making sweet desserts with Chef James Taylor

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - Keiser University’s Chef James Taylor joined our Lanetra Bennett and Madison Glaser in the kitchen to showcase some dishes for people with a bit of a sweet tooth.

This week’s dishes were a Banana Stuffed Puff Pastry and a Caramel Ring. The video attached to the story above showcases the final product of the two. The video below shows you how to make the puff pastry!

For those interested in the full recipes, read below:

Banana Stuffed Puff Pastry

4 Tbsp - Butter, unsalted

1/2 cup - Brown Sugar, packed

4 - Ripe Bananas, halved lengthwise, then cut in half

2 sheets - Puff Pastry (if frozen, thaw before use)

8 oz - Chocolate, semi-sweet, melted

Optional: AN - Vanilla Ice Cream

Caramel Ring

3/4 cup - Sugar, granulated

4 tsp - Cinnamon, ground

1/2 cup - Caramel Sauce

2 Tbsp - Maple Syrup, pure

1/2 cup - Pecans, chopped, divided

1/2 cup - Butter, unsalted, melted

AN - Enriched Yeast Dough

Optional: AN - Vanilla Ice Cream

Cooking Instructions:

Banana Stuffed Puff Pastry

1. Preheat oven to 400 deg. F.
2. In a large cast-iron or other heavy skillet, melt butter on the stove over medium heat. Stir in butter until well combined. Add bananas; stir to coat. Remove skillet from heat and set aside.
3. Cut each puff pastry sheet into 4 equal rectangles. Place one each of the coeated bananas on each rectangle. Bring all four corners of the puff pastry together over the top of the banana and pinch them together to tightly seal. Place the sealed puff pastries on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
4. Bake until golden brown, approximately 20-25 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and serve warm.
6. Optional: Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Caramel Ring

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg. F.
2. Combine sugar and cinnamon; set aside. Combine caramel sauce and maple syrup; set aside.
3. In a greased 10″ round tubed baking pan, sprinkle 1/4 cup of the pecans. Then drizzle one-third of the caramel syrup mixture over the pecans.
4. Roll your enriched yeast dough into a rectangle (18″ x 12″ x 1″). Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over the dough. Length-wise, roll the dough into a log. Cut the log into 10 to 12 equal slices. (If dough is not holding shape when cutting, refrigerate log 10-15 min to firm up dough.
5. Dip 5-6 dough slices in the melted butter, then place them into the baking pan on top of the pecan and sauce. Top with remaining pecans and drizzle one-half of remaining sauce over pieces. Repeat dipping the remaining 5-6 dough slices into the remaining melted butter, then place them in the baking pan. Drizzle remaining sauce over the dough slices.
6. Bake until golden brown, approximately 20-25 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and cool for 2 minutes. Invert baking pan over serving platter; serve warm.
8. Optional: Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

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