Ok, ok. It's not exactly a secret, but more of a hint: Don't peel them until AFTER you put the stick in. Most recipes for banana pops say to peel all the bananas and then put in the sticks. I don't know where I learned this trick, but if you leave the peels on, the bananas are much less likely to fall apart. And it keeps your hands clean. This is important because to make the best tasting pops you need to use bananas that have no green on them anymore, and they can be softish. Once they are on the stick and peeled, the stick makes a great handle while you cut out any little bruises.
Some recipes call for whole bananas, but in our house with the small children, half of a banana at a time is plenty to handle. So I cut them in half, put in the sticks and then peel them and freeze them for about 3 hours on a waxed paper covered cookie sheet.
This last batch I made I went looking for chocolate chips but couldn't find the ones I wanted in my cupboard. Besides, have you seen the price of my favorite semi-sweet Ghirardellis? What happened there? I did come across a bag of Reese's peanut butter chips that I have had for ages. Can't even remember why I bought them, but they did wonderfully for the banana pops. Does that make them "Elvis style"?
Melt the chips and coat the frozen bananas. Because the bananas are so cold, the coating hardens almost immediately. It stays soft just long enough to touch them to a plate with sprinkles or nuts.
YUM.
What a fun idea, too cute!!
Posted by: gardenmama | June 21, 2009 at 11:06 AM