Baked Rum Bananas

NOTE OF CAUTION: As one reviewer stated, she had an issue with blue flames erupting when she opened her oven door due to backdraft. When cooking with alcohol, one must always be cautious ~ please use EXTREME CARE when opening your oven door. As no other reviewers (or me for that matter) have had this problem, I'm hoping it was a fluke occurance, but wanted to post a warning with this recipe.

Preheat oven to 450°F Place brown sugar, orange juice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and 1/2 cup rum in a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat until sugar is melted. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, peel bananas and cut them in half crosswise, then lengthwise, forming 4 pieces from each banana. Place bananas in a single layer in a baking dish. Pour hot rum mixture over bananas. Dot bananas with tiny bits of butter, about 3 dots per banana slice. (You can make dessert up to this point just before dinner, cover, and keep at room temperature until entree course is finished.).

Bake bananas 10 minutes, uncovered, basting with rum mixture occasionally. Sprinkle remaining 1/8 cup rum over bananas and bake 5 minutes more.

TO SERVE: Divide bananas among 4 dinner plates or shallow dessert bowls. Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

NOTE: If you can find baby finger bananas in your local supermarket, use them instead of ordinary bananas. They are much more flavorful. Cut each finger banana in half lengthwise. Allow 2 finger bananas per person.