If you were a fan of Arrested Development, you will recognize these, except they used whole bananas for what they sold on the boardwalk.
Slice three bananas into 1” rounds. The bananas have to be at their peak: ripe, but not yet browning. Put a toothpick in each one vertically, like you would for any hors d’oeuvre. Put these on a plate or a sheet and put in the freezer for a while so they firm up but do not freeze. You’ll get between 15 and 24 of these, depending on the length of your bananas.
In a small bowl microwave 1 cup chocolate chips, dark or milk, your choice, with two tsp. of non-flavored oil or coconut oil if you have any around. Actually, since you’re doing this anyway you might want to make more, maybe a lot more, and save it: it makes an excellent dessert topping but not so good a floor wax (ancient SNL joke.) Melt in 30-second increments and stir until everything is liquid-y and combined. Retrieve your chilled but not frozen bananas and dip into the chocolate sauce so the bottom and sides are coated. Hold them over the bowl so any extra drips back in. If you’re not peanut-averse, roll the chocolate-coated banana rounds in a shallow bowl of chopped peanuts or just dip them in a regular bowl so the bottom half is coated (this is quicker and easier.) Put them back on the baking sheet or plate and move back to the freezer. If you’re not going to serve/eat these within the hour, move them to the fridge at the one-hour mark so they stay cold but don’t freeze on you.
Eat these in memory of Jessica Walter, the actor who played Lucille Bluth, who died fairly recently. You can pair these with Champagne or Prosecco or sparkling water to make the occasion a little more celebratory. I wouldn’t recommend serving with Lucille’s beloved martinis but go for it if you think you can hold them down without incident.
Absolutely the best header photo for this.
I call bullshit on frozen bananas that aren’t frozen.
Sorry, that last line was meant to say something more like, “Now you’re done, but if made in advance they’re prone to freezer burn, so…”
The unpopular opinion I should have listed last night is that bananas are wretched. They make me ill.
I realize, of course, this recipe will work just fine with lots of other fruit, though.
I would just use vanilla wafers or pieces of cake instead of fruit.
No wonder I need to lose weight….
I hate them too. Enough that they also ruin anything they sneak into as an ingredient. So many smoothies have secret bananas…
My husband and kid adore them though. And a fun thing I do for Lil sometimes is make banana “ice cream”, which is literally just frozen banana, blended with a little splash of milk. The texture is very much an ice cream texture.
Good tip! I finally caved and introduced my kid to ice cream. Understandably, now that’s all she wants to eat. She loves frozen bananas so banana “ice cream” is a great compromise.
Do you know what semifreddo is? For FYCE I keep meaning to write up a recipe I have for it, which is Mark Bittman’s recipe for it. You are kind of making a version for Lil. For a semifreddo you use cream instead of milk, and then eggs and sugar, and throw in fruit, and freeze. Maybe I’ll write up the semifreddo today.
An excellent use of ripe bananas aside from banana bread.
This is a much better method than the fair midway bananas which are whole and frozen solid. Those bananas are bullshit.