Caramelized Banana Tart with Hazelnut Cream

It's Persian New Year! I was at my local Persian grocery store today and I noticed an abundance of whole hazelnuts being sold. They looked beautiful, so I bought a large bag of nuts, which were eaten fairly quickly by all the family. I turned the remaining nuts into a fine mill and made frangipane tarts in the evening.

To make the dessert look ultra fancy without being too complicated, I topped the hazelnut cream with bruléed bananas. Caramelizing the bananas brought out additional flavors that really complemented the hazelnut cream and the flaky puff pastry.

My cousin's husband Hoss from Ohio is Persian, so we called him to send him our best wishes. But unfortunately, he changed his number and didn't tell us. The person who picked up was utterly confused. So Hoss, if you're reading this, "Happy Nowruz"!

Blueberry Almond Tart Recipe

I love blueberries. I usually serve them fresh with yogurt but this time, I made a change and baked them in a delicious almond cream tart. I filled puff pastry dough with homemade buttery almond cream and topped it with fresh blueberries.

When blueberries are baked, they release a beautiful deep blue color onto the almond cream. I didn't want the puff pastry to turn soggy, so instead of using regular tart molds, I placed them into brioche molds that could hold more cream as the cavity is much deeper. The tarts were not overly sweet; I really wanted the blueberries to shine in this wonderful French dessert. 

Chestnut Baklava Recipe (+Giveaway)

Have you ever had trouble serving baklava? It gets sticky, messy and difficult to handle. I found a solution by using shredded phyllo dough instead of sheets of phyllo dough and baking it in individual molds. They tend to trap the syrupy goodness in their web instead of getting soaked and sticky. Since it's the holidays, I wanted to add the flavor of Christmas to the baklava, so I added chestnuts. I layered both chestnut purée and roasted chestnuts into the baklava, along with crushed pistachios for color and flavor. I also substituted date syrup for honey, which added a depth of flavor and a strong contrast of color.

If you're looking for a dessert recipe for the holidays that's easy to make but looks elegant, consider baklava. It's an easy, stress-free dessert that is sure to please everyone.

I used pure, organic date syrup from Organics Are For Everyone. If you've never tried date syrup before, you're in for a treat. You can use it in place of just about any syrup. Date syrup has a mild tanginess to it that balances the sweetness. I especially like it on waffles, pancakes and French toast. For a chance to win two jars of date syrup from Organics Are For Everyone, enter today's 25 Days of Giveaways contest. And if you're interested in making this recipe today, you can get a 20% discount from Organics Are For Everyone by using the "FATALE" promo code (good till 12/21).

Make sure you're a fan of PhamFatale Facebook fan page and Organics Are For Everyone, or follow @Phamfatalecom and tweet about this giveaway. To make it easy, you can just copy and paste this tweet if you’d like: "2 jars of Organics Are For Everyone pure date syrup #Giveaway from @Phamfatalecom and @DateSyrupRocks: http://bit.ly/sp4V7y"