It’s always nice to find new ways to use those mushy brown bananas. In this recipe, the banana takes the place of most of the sugar and most of the fat to make a creamy lightly sweetened flan. The vanilla and orange zest trick your tongue into thinking it’s sweeter than it is. Then we add a dash of cinnamon or any of several dessert spice mixes on top of the unmolded flan for another “sweet trick”. In addition, the high protein content from the eggs helps control the speed with which you absorb the sugar and leaves you feeling full. Whipped topping has a lot of air in it, so a tiny dollop adds negligeable amounts of sugar, fat, and calories while making the dessert feel extra special.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup lowfat (1%) or skim milk
• 1 overripe banana, peeled (approx 116g)
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 teaspoons honey
• 1 tangerine (or small orange), zested, peeled, and separated into segments
• Small amount of cinnamon, pie spice, cake spice, or baking spice (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325F and boil a pot of water.
2. Spread 1/4 teaspoon of honey at the bottom of each of 4 ramekins. Place the ramekins in a deep pan.
3. In a blender, liquify the banana with the milk, eggs, vanilla, orange zest, and the 2 remaining teaspoons of honey.
4. Divide the liquid evenly among the 4 ramekins.
5. Place the pan with the ramekins into the preheated oven and pour hot water to surround the ramekins, up to 1/2″ below the rim of the ramekins.
   
6. Cook for 40 minutes or until the top of the flan has just a slight jiggle.
7. Take the ramekins out of the hot bath. Let cool 15 minutes then refrigerate.
8. To serve, turn the flan over onto a plate, sprinkle a little dessert spice on top if desired, and adorn with the orange segments.

Nutrition for 1 ramekin (1/4 of the recipe) with 1% milk, not including whipped cream:
Calories: 139; Sodium: 79mg; Fat: 4.6g; Carbs: 17g; Fiber: 1.1g; Sugar: 13.3g; Protein: 7g

DASH category servings:
Fruits: 1/2; Milk: 1/4; Meat: 3/4; Sweets: 1/4