Plantain Toffee Balls

This past week I challenged myself to try to blog everyday and I had a ton of recipes I had made, photographed and were just sitting on my memory card. It was time to do something about that, hence the extra activity you see on my blog. This post was inspired quite randomly to be honest. I had made bole (roasted plantain) in the oven and instead of drizzling oil over it so it did not stick to the foil when it caramelized, I slapped on a bit of salted butter. When it was ready, I was amazed at the difference the butter made on the plantain. It reminded me of toffee and I started thinking of how to make this a thing and voila plantain toffee balls. We need more options for Nigerian desserts and this could easily be one. I wish I had some crushed peanuts at home for my toppings or even m&m’s but alas all I had at home was coconut flakes so that was what I used. If you make this recipe do let us know, I absolutely love it and it’s another creative way to convert over ripe plantain to a dessert.

Ingredients

1 finger of plantain

3 tablespoons of flour

2 tablespoons of butter

3.5 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla

4 tablespoons of coconut milk

4 tablespoons of water

1 tablespoon of coconut flakes

Method

Peel and mash your plantain till soft. Mix it with the flour, form mini balls and place in the oven to bake for about 20-25 minutes. Please note the plantain mix will still be moist so use a spoon to help form the balls if you are having difficulty with that. Make sure to drizzle oil on the baking sheet so it does not stick to the sheet when it begins to caramelize. If you do not have an oven you can choose to fry the plantain balls as well. I have not tried the frying method but make sure to dab off the excess oil from the plantain.

In a separate pot, on very low heat, melt the butter and pour in the sugar, vanilla, milk and water and stir. Leave it on very low heat throughout. Stir once in a while and if you have a candy thermometer, it is ready at 240F. If you do not, the toffee base is ready when it turns light brown like a caramel colour.

Dip the plantain balls and swirl and place on a plate to cool. While its still warm, sprinkle your toppings on it. In this case, my toppings were coconut flakes. Serve when it’s cool.