Tuesday, July 30, 2013

(Un)baked!: Banana bites.



I haven't been posting too many indulgent sweet treats lately because I've been trying to make healthier choices (and it's been working! Between a strict exercise regimen and, you know, not shoveling candy bars in my mouth, I've lost 11 pounds and my clothes are fitting like I want them to again and I feel really good, so yay for that).

But that being said, sometimes a girl needs something sweet. Particularly after dinner. Enter: Banana bites.

These are the easiest things in the world to make, and I am not joking. All you do is slice up a banana or two, spread some peanut butter on half the slices, and then make little peanut-butter-banana "sandwiches" with the other half. Put them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and stick it in the freezer for an hour, until they bananas are super firm. Meanwhile, melt some chocolate chips—I nuked half a bag for 30-second intervals until the chips were almost completely melted, then stirred them until totally smooth (you avoid burning the chocolate this way)—and then, when your banana sandwiches are chilled, roll them in the melted chocolate and put them back in the freezer until they're firm again (another 1-2 hours). The coolest part of the process is that, if you use chocolate chips like I did (Ghirardelli 60 percent forever!), whatever emulsifier is in the chocolate chips creates a sort of pseudo-Magic Shell when the warm chocolate hits the cold bananas. It's pretty cool. And pretty delicious. Let me know if you make them.

P.S. You can see the complete archive of Baked! posts right here.

Photo by Joy the Baker, because everyone seems to be discovering the power of chocolate covered bananas, and also her photograph is so much better than mine it's not even funny. Those suckers are tasty, but hard to take a good picture of.

10 comments:

  1. These look amazing - I might have to make them for the picnic I'm taking to a festival for my friend and I. And amazing news on the weight loss - I need to try me some of that eating less and exercising more ;)

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    1. Aw, thank you! And you should totally make them. I bet they'd hold up just fine in a cooler.

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  2. These look disturbingly good. Seriously. Magic shell was such a huge part of my life as a kid...I was so proud of my ability to eat a dip cone without needing a napkin. Yes, I was nuts. Can't wait to make these!

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    1. Julie, your descriptions of things are my favorite: "Offensively good," "disturbingly good," etc. Love it! Hope you enjoy these! (And yes, YAY FOR MAGIC SHELL.)

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  3. These look AWESOME! I've been nibbling on the super dark choc chips and carob chips every so often at night to get the choc fix if it creeps up and consumes me. Banana and peanut butter is my jam. Totally trying this tonight for dessert!

    And UMMM CONGRATS on the 11 lbs. That's pretty amazing. I'm trying to shave off a cool 15 at the moment and it feels like climbing Everest. Losing weight in the summer is HARD. So good on you!


    eileen ragan | leaner by the lake

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    1. Aw, thanks! Have been doing a lot of intense cardio/kickboxing--best workout I've ever done (although not sure my downstairs neighbor thinks so thanks to all the jumping!). Hope you love the banana bites! And P.S. YOU CAN DO IT! You look awesome, lady.

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  4. These look amazing! I always buy bananas, forget about them, and end up freezing the brown ones anyway, so this sounds like the perfect solution. I love all the little toppings. And now I'm off to dream of sweets for the afternoon. :-P

    Alicia / Jaybird

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    1. I always buy too many bananas, too--I eat a lot of them, but I'm a bit over-zealous and always end up throwing a few away. Glad I have this recipe to add to the repertoire--hope you LOVE them when you make them!

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  5. Oh wow! So yummy sounding! Love bananas and love chocolate! But the idea of having peanut butter as part of the mix -- WOW!

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