Banana Wellingtons for Four

Ingredients:

For the Wellingtons:
8 to 12 sheets of filo dough
4 bananas (ripe, but not too ripe)
3 cups chocolate chips, semisweet or white
1 1/2 cups salted pecans, chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted

For Topping:
Whipped cream
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted

Instructions:

Note: Have all ingredients ready prior to removing the filo from the package.

Take two or three stacked sheets of filo dough and brush generously with melted butter. Place one banana on the dough, sprinkle with a handful of chocolate chips and about a 1/2 handful of pecans. Wrap the banana, chocolate and pecans up in a triangular shape and again, brush banana wellingtons generously with melted butter. Place on well greased pan and bake in a 400 degree F oven for about 15-20 minutes. Check often, you do not want to burn the filo! The filo should be a golden brown when removed.

Let cool for 5 or 10 minutes and then drizzle with melted chocolate and put a nice dollop of whipped cream on top.

Tips:

1) If you are familiar working with filo dough (phyllo, fillo, filo) then you know that once the package is opened, anything left over needs to be wrapped immediately, and very securely so that air does not enter the dough. Filo is a very thin middle eastern pastry that dries up very quickly!

2) You can freeze the uncooked wellingtons on a greased pan covered with saran wrap or other plastic wrap, in the freezer so that you can simply pop them in the oven after dinner too. Do not stack the wellingtons as they will not come apart graciously.

3) Again, it's a very simple dish to make. But be sure to wrap leftover filo dough right away. It takes only minutes to dry out and crumble.