It is pretty much as simple and as good as you can imagine.
It’s simple if you have everything ready, and the ingredients are good.
Everyone will be impressed!
Then everyone started to do it!
It must be a good idea.
The measurements are approximate, because it will depend on if you are making bites, or dipping on sticks, the temperature of the chocolate, your dipping skills, etc.
You will have leftover nut butter and chocolate because with dipping you need excess ingredients.
Just keep the nut butter in the fridge now because it will probably have remnants of banana in it, but still usable, so not wasted.
The chocolate, look for other stuff to dip!
Really though, if you have a lot, cover it, refrigerate it for other uses, like icings for brownies.
Melt it and pour it onto parchment and let it harden and chop or break it into other batters. (cookie, muffin).
Milk chocolate does not melt as well as semi sweet, for dipping. If you have to use milk chocolate, make sure you add butter or solid coconut oil or it will not be thin enough.
Good Bananas, not over ripe, about 4
Good semi-sweet chocolate, about 10-12 ounces
Soy nut or peanut butter, (I used soy nut) about 8-12 ounces
1 Tbsp solid at room temperature coconut oil or unsalted butter
Banana Bites
Slice the banana into 1 cm (⅓ inch) slices and place on parchment or other non stick sheet and freeze until solid. About half an hour
You don’t have to heat the nut butter. You will just be placing little scoops on the frozen banana slices.
Place about a teaspoon of nut butter, more or less, to taste, on one banana slice and press another on top to sandwich
Put in the freezer for another half an hour.
Microwaving chocolate gently, is probably the best way to make sure that you do not get any moisture in the melting chocolate.
Any amount of water will make the chocolate seize up, and it is as dramatic as it sounds.It suddenly gets very stiff.
Just be patient with the microwave, you know how it has hot spots etc. Stir it every 20 seconds or so.
Chop your chocolate to make melting easier. Using a serrated knife is helpful to keep the chocolate in place while chopping. It grips it.
You can temper the chocolate by holding back about ¼ of your chopped solid chocolate while the rest of it gently and gradually melts in the microwave.
(Tempering the chocolate.-Melted anything that has fats will separate in some way. Tempering, or adding unmelted chocolate bonds the chocolate crystals back to being strong again. So it can form better structure and a smoother, shinier surface. It snaps instead of bends. The surface structure is smooth because the crystals, and the fats are stable again so you also won’t get a white surface bloom.
This is only necessary with good chocolate containing cocoa butter.
Not so important here in a frozen product or if you are adding more fat when melting, like butter, but still improves the product.
The white in my pictures are frost, by the way!
Stir in the rest of the unmelted chocolate using only the heat from the melted chocolate.
Or
Stir in the bit of solid coconut oil or butter. Use unsalted butter though because salted butter may have some moisture that may cause your melted chocolate to seize.
Dip the nut butter sandwich into the chocolate once, and gently help the excess drip off with a utensil or the side of the glass.
Place on the parchment. Smooth the top, or make a little design.
For less chocolate, you can dip half, or drizzle, but any exposed banana will start to look dry if not serving soon, and sometimes the chocolate just falls off. Not as pretty.
Just try to keep your chocolate at a dipping consistency. The added unsalted butter helps to thin it a bit,
For the banana pops
Long enough to hold, but not too long because it is difficult to put anywhere to let set.
I found a wooden popsicle stick works best to hold the banana in place, they kind of spin on a round skewer.
Place on a non stick surface and freeze.
They need to be frozen or the coating doesn’t stick very well, and it is more likely to slide off.
If you are skewering bananas and dipping, poke small holes in the bottom of a cardboard egg carton to serve as a stand. Or if you have made cake pops, use what you used for them. (probably an egg carton)
Or
Just place the cut side down on non stick paper with the stick upwards.
You can use the jar it came in, if it is deep enough or scrape it into another tall deep vessel.
If you don’t, the exposed banana will dry out if you are not serving them right away, but mostly, it may cause some condensation, later adding moisture to your chocolate.
Place in your egg carton stand or on non stick paper.
Freeze again.
If you want less chocolate, or just want to be fancy, you can drizzle the chocolate, it will stick to the nut butter.
Place back on your egg carton.
You can save the nut butter that is left, but make sure that you refrigerate it now, if you normally don’t, because there are now foreign contaminants in the jar (banana).
Excess chocolate.
Chocolate Dipped Bananas with Soy Nut or Peanut Butter
When I need a little sweet and I see these in the freezer it makes me so happy!
Prep Time: 40 min
Chilling Time: 30 min
INGREDIENTS
- 4-5 Good bananas, not overripe
- 10-12 oz (285-340g) Good semi-sweet chocolate
-
8-12 ounces (265g-340g) Soy nut or peanut butter, (I used soy nut)
-
1 Tbsp solid at room temperature coconut oil or unsalted butter
INSTRUCTIONS
Banana Bites –
- Slice the banana into 1 cm (⅓ inch) slices and place on parchment or other non-stick sheet and freeze until solid. About half an hour.
- Place about a teaspoon of nut butter, on one banana slice, and press another on top of the sandwich.
- Put in the freezer for another half an hour.
- Chop the chocolate into smaller pieces and gently and gradually melt in the microwave.
- Stirring to melt in between heating.
- Stir in the solid coconut oil or unsalted butter.
- Using a fork, dip the frozen nut butter sandwich into the chocolate once, and gently help the excess drip off with a utensil or the side of the glass.
- Place on the parchment. Smooth the top, to erase the fork marks, or make a little design.
Banana Pops –
- Popsicle type sticks are best so the banana doesn’t spin. You will also need a narrow, deep vessel for the melted chocolate, another for the nut butter if you are dipping.
- Cut the peeled bananas into 2 or 3 pieces and push a stick through. Lay on a non stick surface and freeze. You can poke small holes in the bottom of a cardboard egg carton to serve as a stand.Or
Just place the cut side down on non stick paper with the stick upwards, or just lay them down.
-
Microwave the nut butter gradually, stirring until it gets pourable.
You can use the jar it came in, if it is deep enough or scrape it into another tall deep vessel.
- Once the bananas are frozen, carefully submerge the whole banana into the nut butter up to the stick.
Place in your egg carton stand or on non stick paper.
- Freeze again.
- Dip your frozen bananas into the chocolate once, and help the excess drip off. You can also drizzle the chocolate over the nut butter dipped banana.
Place back on your egg carton.
Keep frozen.
You can save the nut butter that is left to use another time, but make sure that you refrigerate it now, if you normally don’t, because there are now foreign contaminants in the jar (banana).
