Late last night,while you were all in bed,
Dr. J and I got an idea in our heads,
Chocolate + Bananas + Nuts and Sprinkles, too...
Frozen treats for forty people,
And I'll share it all with you.
Okay, okay, I'll stop with the poem. It really was late when Jared and I made these last night. Late, like, 2 a.m., late. I still haven't recovered and it could be affecting my better judgement.
Frozen bananas are an oh-so-special treat and if the look isn't enough to win you over, the crunchy chocolate coating and soft, sweet inside will be.
Our kids were so excited when they saw these delectable little treats in our freezer (which were packed up and taken to the church this morning for a youth event) that we promised them we'd make them again for an after church treat tomorrow. And I don't know if it was just because it was 2 in the morning, but making these together was so fun.
What you'll need:
5-8 good sized, ripe (beginning to show small brown spots on the peel) bananas
2-4 cups chocolate chips or other melting chocolate
1-2 T. Crisco
Popsicle sticks
finely chopped nuts, mini chocolate chips, sprinkles or other topping of choice
Step one:
Peel bananas. Cut each banana in half and gently insert a Popsicle stick into the cut end of the banana. Place on a tray lined with wax paper and slide it into your freezer for about an hour.
Step two:
When you are ready to dip the bananas, pour 2-3 cups chocolate chips into a large glass measuring cup (such as Pyrex). Microwave for 30 second increments, stirring after each 30 seconds as thoroughly as possible until the chocolate is completely smooth and free of bumps and chunks. You could also do this over a double boiler, but I gave up that technique once I saw Ina Garten use the microwave to melt her chocolate.
Add about a tablespoon of Crisco to the chocolate. This adds flexibility to the chocolate and prevents cracking.
Step three:
DIP!
Thoroughly coat one banana, but go quickly. Gently shake of as much excess chocolate as you can--too much chocolate = sliding toppings. You want to work pretty quickly, so that the chocolate doesn't harden before you stick toppings to it. Make sure your chocolate is plenty warm, you may want to stop and nuke it again for 30 seconds once you're halfway through.
Step 4:
Quickly move to your topping station and, pressing gently, roll the banana into the prepared topping. We just placed our toppings on a plate for this step. Once your banana is covered and looking beautiful, return it to a second tray in the freezer that has also been lined with wax paper.
Grab another banana from the freezer and repeat until you're through. If you start to run low on chocolate, add another cup of chocolate chips and melt again (you may want to do it in smaller increments of 15-20 seconds at this point). Add a little more Crisco.
Allow the chocolate covered bananas to harden in the freezer, at least one hour. Once the outer shells are nice and hard, the bananas are ready to enjoy. Unless you're my brother, Rich, who hates bananas more than he hates anything else in the world, you will enjoy them. I promise.
Dr. J and I got an idea in our heads,
Chocolate + Bananas + Nuts and Sprinkles, too...
Frozen treats for forty people,
And I'll share it all with you.
Okay, okay, I'll stop with the poem. It really was late when Jared and I made these last night. Late, like, 2 a.m., late. I still haven't recovered and it could be affecting my better judgement.
Frozen bananas are an oh-so-special treat and if the look isn't enough to win you over, the crunchy chocolate coating and soft, sweet inside will be.
Our kids were so excited when they saw these delectable little treats in our freezer (which were packed up and taken to the church this morning for a youth event) that we promised them we'd make them again for an after church treat tomorrow. And I don't know if it was just because it was 2 in the morning, but making these together was so fun.
What you'll need:
5-8 good sized, ripe (beginning to show small brown spots on the peel) bananas
2-4 cups chocolate chips or other melting chocolate
1-2 T. Crisco
Popsicle sticks
finely chopped nuts, mini chocolate chips, sprinkles or other topping of choice
Step one:
Peel bananas. Cut each banana in half and gently insert a Popsicle stick into the cut end of the banana. Place on a tray lined with wax paper and slide it into your freezer for about an hour.
Step two:
When you are ready to dip the bananas, pour 2-3 cups chocolate chips into a large glass measuring cup (such as Pyrex). Microwave for 30 second increments, stirring after each 30 seconds as thoroughly as possible until the chocolate is completely smooth and free of bumps and chunks. You could also do this over a double boiler, but I gave up that technique once I saw Ina Garten use the microwave to melt her chocolate.
Add about a tablespoon of Crisco to the chocolate. This adds flexibility to the chocolate and prevents cracking.
Step three:
DIP!
Thoroughly coat one banana, but go quickly. Gently shake of as much excess chocolate as you can--too much chocolate = sliding toppings. You want to work pretty quickly, so that the chocolate doesn't harden before you stick toppings to it. Make sure your chocolate is plenty warm, you may want to stop and nuke it again for 30 seconds once you're halfway through.
Step 4:
Quickly move to your topping station and, pressing gently, roll the banana into the prepared topping. We just placed our toppings on a plate for this step. Once your banana is covered and looking beautiful, return it to a second tray in the freezer that has also been lined with wax paper.
Grab another banana from the freezer and repeat until you're through. If you start to run low on chocolate, add another cup of chocolate chips and melt again (you may want to do it in smaller increments of 15-20 seconds at this point). Add a little more Crisco.
Allow the chocolate covered bananas to harden in the freezer, at least one hour. Once the outer shells are nice and hard, the bananas are ready to enjoy. Unless you're my brother, Rich, who hates bananas more than he hates anything else in the world, you will enjoy them. I promise.
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