The Bake-Off is Coming: Breakfast Panini with Caramelized Bananas in Coffee Syrup

CakeSpy Note: OMG! The 46th Annual Pillsbury Bake-Off is coming! Since I so deeply loved attending the 45th Bake-Off, I thought I would get you excited early by sharing some of the finalists' recipes. Narrowed down from zillions of entries, I'll profile some of the 100 finalists--but of course, based on the subject matter of this site, I will focus on sweets! You can follow them by clicking the bakeoff tag below the post to see which ones have been posted so far. Enjoy! 

Monday! It does not have to be no fun-day. Nope. Not when you start the day right, with a sweet breakfast sandwich made with bananas, choco-hazelnut spread, and some coffee liqueur sandwiched sweetly between biscuits. 

It's not hard to see why this tasty morsel is a finalist in the Pillsbury Bake-Off. Let's all take a moment to silently thank Lisa Speer of Palm Beach, Florida, for dreaming it up.

Breakfast Panini with Caramelized Bananas in Coffee Syrup

Prep Time: 25 Min Total Time: 40 Min Makes: 8 servings

Ingredients

• 1 can Pillsbury® Grands! Flaky Layers refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup coffee-flavored liqueur or brewed coffee
• 2 ripe firm large bananas, cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 1/2 cup Chocolate Flavored Hazelnut Spread
• 8 small strawberries, halved

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Bake biscuits as directed on can. Cool 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in 10-inch nonstick skillet, cook brown sugar, butter and coffee liqueur over medium heat, stirring constantly, 3 to 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Stir in bananas; cook 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat; keep warm.
3. Heat closed medium-size contact grill or panini maker for 5 minutes. Spray grill plates with Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray.
4. Split biscuits. Spread 1 tablespoon of the chocolate hazelnut spread on cut side of each biscuit bottom to within 1/2 inch from edges; top with remaining biscuit halves. Place filled biscuits 3 to 4 at a time on grill; close grill. Cook 1 to 2 minutes or until golden brown. Repeat with remaining 4 filled biscuits.
5. Top panini with bananas and syrup. Garnish with strawberries.

Comments

[Lisa Speer]

Thank you so much for this very nice post!! My recipe, "Breakfast Panini with Caramelized Bananas in Coffee Syrup" is actually still up for voting in the Pillsbury Bake-Off Semi-Finalist round. All votes to help me advance to the Bake-Off Finals are greatly, greatly appreciated!! Voting ends Sept 26 at 12 pm Central. :)

http://www.pillsbury.com/our-makers/bake-off-contest/voting

[Mary Phillips]

Yum - thanks for sharing!!!

[Holiday Baker Man]

oooh.... I smell Sunday breakfast!

[The Ninja Baker]

I can see why you are excited to attend as a judge at the Pillsbury Bake-Off, Jessie. If this spectacular panini is any indication of the other entries, you are in for a sweet ride =)