#SamLikesItHot: Banana pops

MANILA, Philippines – I don’t know about you but when I’m craving dessert on a hot day, I think of something yummy (naturally), cold, and sweet — but not cloyingly sweet. It’s a bonus if it involves chocolate.

If these things tick all your summer dessert boxes, rejoice! Banana pops might just be the thing for you!

Making banana pops is very much like making cake pops (oooohh, remember those?) but approximately 20 times easier. It’s seriously easy-peasy!

This recipe can serve between 1 to 4 people depending entirely on whether you can stop eating them or not. 

To make banana pops, you’ll need:

• 2 ripe (but not overly ripe) bananas 
• 100 g 72% dark chocolate
• About ½ cup of salted roasted cashew nuts
• 4 lollipop or ice pop sticks
• Parchment paper

1. Slice the bananas in half and insert the lollipop sticks. I’m sure you realize that you’ll need some sturdiness in your bananas for it to hold its shape while clinging to the lollipop sticks. This is why overly ripe bananas aren’t recommended for this recipe.

When done, take them to the freezer and keep them there for about 20 minutes. 

2. When you’re nearing the 20-minute mark, you can melt your chocolate.

Break your chocolate into even pieces, place them in a bowl and microwave on low in short bursts until you see the edges starting to melt. You can stir the rest of the way with a spoon. Set aside.

I used very dark chocolate for my banana pops but you can use any chocolate you want.

3. Crush the cashew nuts and lay them out on a plate. Again, you can use any kind of nut (go nuts!) but I highly recommend that you use the salted kind because sweet plus salty is delish!

You can even use potato chips or, gasp, bacon!

4. Take out the bananas from the freezer. Have your melted chocolate and crushed nuts nearby. Lay out a sheet of parchment paper. Drizzle the bananas with chocolate.

This has to be done pretty quickly because the melted chocolate will start to harden as soon as it hits the frozen banana. Instead of waiting for the chocolate to finish dripping (which can feel like an eternity), you can use the back of your spoon to help it along. 

5. When the banana is covered in chocolate, immediately sprinkle with crushed nuts.

6. Place on parchment paper and let set while you repeat with the remaining bananas.

When done, pop them in the freezer for about 10 minutes so they can finish setting.

And tada!

This is a perfectly delicious summer dessert by itself and I’d be completely happy with this but I thought I’d up the decadence a little bit by drizzling my banana pops with some caramel sauce.

Yum!

Bananas, dark chocolate, cashew nuts – this is also a pretty healthy dessert to boot…as long as you don’t eat all 4. May the force be with you! – Rappler.com

 

Check out our other recipes:

• #SamLikesItHot: Peach mango pie
• #SamLikesItHot: Breakfast quesadillas
• #SamLikesItHot: Cold soba noodles
• #SamLikesItHot: Do-It-Yourself tapas
• #SamLikesItHot: Steak and watermelon salad
• #SamLikesItHot: Cutie cake pops
• #SamLikesItHot: Kesong puti salad with passion-ette
• #SamLikesItHot: Rigatoni with dark chocolate ragu
• #SamLikesItHot: Bananas About You pudding

Sam Oh is a professional TV and events host, radio jock, and foodie wannabe. Catch her on radio at 99.5 PlayFM, Monday to Friday, 6am-10am in “The Playground” with Tim Yap and Nikko. She is also a food blogger at Sam Likes It Hot. If you have questions or recipe requests, email desk@rappler.com with subject heading SAM LIKES IT HOT.