If You Have Brown Sugar And Cinnamon, Make Bananas Taste Like Gourmet Candy Using The Grill

Bananas are basically healthy candies that come in their own biodegradable packaging, but what if there was a simple way to take them to the next level? Well, there is. By sprinkling half a banana with brown sugar and cinnamon and grilling it for a few minutes on each side, you can make a sweet, spiced, and decadent, candy-like dessert. The banana naturally softens and sweetens as the brown sugar caramelizes, incorporating with the warming cinnamon for a perfect flavor match up.

Slice your bananas lengthwise, with the peel on, along the curved edge so they lay flat. Then, combine your brown sugar and cinnamon. If you prefer a lighter cinnamon flavor, you can use basically a pinch for every tablespoon of sugar. For a much heavier cinnamon kick, you can go for a 2:1 cinnamon to sugar ratio. Sprinkle the mixture onto the cut sides of your bananas generously, applying as much as would stick to them once inverted. Any excess will drop off on the grill. 

Apply a neutral oil like canola to the grates and grill the bananas for five minutes on cut sides, then flip them gently to grill for another minute on the peel sides. Under the blackened skin, you should have soft, sweet cooked banana topped with delectably caramelized cinnamon sugar.

Choose bananas that are ripe, but still slightly firm so they stay in one piece. Go too ripe, and they'll disintegrate on the grill. Be sure not to overcook the bananas. Flip them once the sugar side is nicely caramelized with some attractive grill marks, but don't let them blacken and get bitter. It can also be helpful to preheat your grill so you can more tightly control your cooking time, rather than waiting for the grill to heat up with your bananas already down. Set the grill to medium-low, as this will be just enough heat to adequately caramelize the sugar while giving the inside of the banana time to cook. When your bananas are done, you can eat them right out of the peel, or remove them to serve.

This method is so simple that upgrades and riffs are easy, just consider the usual flavors that banana plays well with. Simply top grilled brown sugar and cinnamon bananas with walnuts, toasted coconut, or toasted almond slices. Alongside cinnamon, cardamom also makes a great flavor friend of banana, and works well in the sugar mix. To turn the decadence up to 11, you can even press chocolate chips into the freshly caramelized side while the peel side grills, to let them melt as the banana finishes cooking. To really make a dish worth repeating, these bananas go wonderfully on pancakes or a grilled banana split.