Frozen Chocolate Covered Banana on a Stick

Frozen chocolate covered banana on a stick are so nutritionally packed and great on hot summer days. If you have a hard time getting your children or grand children to eat enough fruit you may try offering them frozen chocolate covered bananas. Even our fussy grandson loves them, in fact the only reason I made frozen chocolate covered bananas was that he requested them.

Bananas, the high-energy fruit, have vitamin B6, C and potassium in them making them a very low calorie nutritionally packed fruit. According to the world’s healthiest food, “Bananas are one of our best sources of potassium, an essential mineral for maintaining normal blood pressure and heart function. Since the average banana contains a whopping 467 mg of potassium and only 1 mg of sodium, a banana a day may help to prevent high blood pressure and protect against atherosclerosis.”

Thanks to the discovery by George Washington Carver, we can enjoy the high protein nutrient packed peanut butter. Enjoyed by all, peanuts or peanut butter is consumed by shelling and eating them at ball games or as simple as a PBJ sandwich.

Combining all the goodness of chocolate, bananas and peanut butter to make this cool treat just makes sense to me.

Ingredients needed for making frozen chocolate covered bananas:

• Bananas
• 1-12 oz package dark chocolate chips
• 2 or 3 tbsp peanut butter; natural, crunchy or smooth
• Wax paper
• Popsicle sticks

 

 Instructions needed for making frozen chocolate covered bananas:

1. Purchase bananas that are ripe but not overly ripe. Getting a firm but sweet banana is necessary.
2. Peel the bananas and depending on the size, cut into 2 or 3 pieces. Insert the stick about ½ way. If you insert it to far the banana may break and if not inserted far enough it will fall off the stick when dipping. You will get the feel for it after the first attempt.
3. Melt the dark chocolate chips. You can melt in the microwave or on the stovetop, however I find using a double boiler system to melt the chips is the best way to control the texture. Add the peanut butter of choice. Some might prefer to use the natural peanut butter that has no salt and sugar added, some might prefer chunky or smooth. There is no right or wrong.
4. Dip the banana in the chocolate mixture and gently move it around to make sure it is covered.
5. Shake the excess chocolate off the banana and put it on the wax paper.
6. After you have dipped the bananas in the chocolate mixture, place them in the freezer.  My grandson and I really love them. Mine may not be as pretty as the carnival chocolate bananas; however they still taste good; I am not sure why I had not tried them before. 

    

   Tips on making frozen chocolate covered bananas:

•  You might have to thin your chocolate chips, the bags recommends using solid shortening.

• Do not over heat the chocolate; it will dry out instead of melting. Slowly melting the chocolate is better.
• If frozen bananas are not your thing, try putting them in the refrigerator to chill long enough to set up the chocolate.
• On these hot summer days, I hope you try this delicious recipe for frozen chocolate covered bananas.