Name: Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Pops
Ingredients: 4 ripe bananas; Toppings (optional): shredded coconut, chopped nuts, sprinkles, or whatever you can dream up!; 6 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chips or chopped small; 1/2 C heavy whipping cream; 1 – 2 T creamy peanut butter; Equipment: popsicle or cake pop sticks (find them at craft stores)

Ingredients

Scale

4 ripe bananas
Toppings (optional): shredded coconut, chopped nuts, sprinkles, or whatever you can dream up!
6 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chips or chopped small
1/2 C heavy whipping cream
1 – 2 T creamy peanut butter
Equipment: popsicle or cake pop sticks (find them at craft stores)

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Instructions

Peel the bananas and chop off the gross little end. Cut each banana in half crosswise. From the cut end, carefully insert a stick into each half, trying to get it most of the way through but not poking out the end. The banana may crack on the side slightly, but the chocolate will cover this later.
Place in a dish, on waxed or parchment paper, in the freezer for a couple hours. Less freezing time may work, but I didn’t try it. Cold bananas will help the ganache set more quickly (so you can eat it more quickly).
When you’re ready to finish the bananas, place your topping(s) on a plate or platter without a rim for easy rolling.
In a small saucepan, heat the cream over medium until small bubbles form around the edge and it breaks a slight simmer. At this point, turn off the heat, then add the chocolate and peanut butter and stir, stir, stir! It will take a minute or two, and if you haven’t made ganache before you’ll think it failed, but the cream and chocolate will melt together and become shiny. No need for a whisk–I used a spoon. The ganache will stay liquid for a while, so you don’t have to be in a huge rush during the next step.
Hold each banana over the pan and spoon ganache all over it. Then use your spoon to scrape off the excess as you hold the banana upside down. This will prevent lots of chocolate from getting all mixed in with your toppings.
Lightly roll the coated banana in your topping of choice (spooning the toppings over it, if it’s easier). Lightly pat the toppings onto the banana if they’re not sticking. Shake off any excess toppings, then lay the banana back in the dish you froze it in. Repeat the process with the remaining bananas.
Put back in the freezer until the ganache has hardened completely, only 10 minutes or so.

Notes

After doing the first four bananas, they started to thaw, so I put the whole tray, including the ones I already coated, back in the freezer for 10 minutes. During that time, the ganache stayed liquid.

If your ganache does firm up, just heat it over the lowest heat, stirring, until it liquifies again.

Category: Dessert