When that chocolate craving hits, make these easy yummy Chocolate Covered Bananas. They’re a healthier treat for children and adults!
Food on a stick tastes better!
There’s just something catching about having food on a stick! Come on, you know what I mean, who can say no to corn dogs, fairy floss, Moroccan Kefta, corncob or ice cream? Is it because most of us are kids at heart? I would like to think so because it’ll probably make this world a better place.
I know of a 2-year-old that loves everything on a stick. His name is Kai, and I happen to be his mummy. Kai loves eating anything I stick on his popsicle sticks like fruits, meat, cheese and if I’m lucky, veggies. Nowadays, he’s simply too busy to feed himself, so he gets me to hold his stick for him. This means he’s free to break something else around our house!
We’ve had a few scorching days before, having weeks of nonstop rain. I bought some mini Cornetto (A brand of ice cream cones) to cool us off. Kai had his first one and since then he has been obsessed with ice cream.
I simply can’t resist seeing Kai grin ear to ear whenever he gets a sweet treat, but I felt guilty feeding him stuff that was high in sugar with zero nutrients. In saying that, I’ve never been the type of parent to leave sugar or salt completely out of my child’s diet. My parents raised 5 of us and did none of that and we turned out okay for the most part! However, I still try to lower the amount of sugar and salt Kai takes in.
These Chocolate Covered Bananas are a great option for when that chocolate or sugar craving hits. They’re mainly made with bananas, so they’re relatively healthy, right? A nice coating of good quality chocolate makes it heavenly. I love making these treat because not only does it keep my toddler happy, all the adults in our house fights over them!
Trying to understand a 2-year-old is hard work!
Kai is currently joining 2 to 3 words together and the rest including his baby babble. Do you know that saying when parents can understand their own baby when others can’t? It’s not true, well, not for us at least.
Kai would say ‘Sixth it, sixth it!’ and hubby, Tomasi, and I would look at each other confusedly and one of us would ask him ‘Six what darling?’. Us not understanding what Kai was trying to tell us would make him extremely frustrated. It was only recently that Tomasi figured Kai was asking us to FIX IT and not six it.
According to our son, anything that he’s broken or torn is fixable. He learned this from the many we’ve repaired his book with tape after he ripped it and we would declare, ‘See, we fixed it!’
On a funny note, the other day Tomasi was looking after Kai. When I got back, hubby told me with amusement what our son got up to when I was away.
We have an upright standalone freezer in our lounge room. It’s one of those old-fashioned freezers that’s hard to open. Turns out that’s a brilliant child-safe lock! Kai was trying with all his might to pry open the freezer whilst repeatedly saying ICE CREAM! ICE CREAM!
What made this even more endearing was he only learned how to say ice cream a few days ago, so he obviously wanted to put that new word into good practice.
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Ingredients for Chocolate Covered Bananas
Olive oil – Light or mild olive oil is more neutral in taste than extra virgin olive oil. This means it won’t change the flavour of the chocolate. Any neutral-tasting oil such as vegetable or canola oil will work as a substitute. The oil helps the chocolate melt and also thins it out, so it’s easier to coat the bananas.
Milk chocolate – I prefer using good quality cooking chocolate as they usually have a higher percentage of cocoa butter, which makes it easier to melt and work with. Plus, quality chocolate tastes so much better. Regular eating chocolate would also work.
Banana – Use just ripe and firm bananas, so they don’t go mushy when we freeze them. They also hold better on the stick. There’s enough melted chocolate to cover approximately 5 small bananas or 4 medium ones.
How to make Chocolate Covered Bananas
Step-by-step guide with photos
Peel and cut the bananas in half. Insert a skewer lengthwise into the banana, push it approximately two-thirds deep. Use popsicle sticks with curved ends for small children so they don’t hurt themselves. Popsicles sticks are better anyway because it secures the bananas. We didn’t have any at home, so we just used what we had.
Line a large plate with foil and place the banana skewers on top, but do not cover. Place the plate of bananas in the freezer for at least 30 minutes or an hour.
Chop the chocolate roughly into small chunks. Place the chocolate and the oil in a microwave-safe jug (or bowl) and melt it in the microwave. Do this in 40-second bursts, stirring well after each burst until the chocolate has completely melted.
Time for some delicious fun!
Holding onto the stick, dip the cold banana into the melted chocolate. Slightly angle the jug towards you so the chocolate falls onto the banana. Cover the entire banana with chocolate with a little on the stick, as doing this will secure the banana on the stick when eating. Let the excess chocolate drip from the banana and back into the jug.
If using decorations, quickly sprinkle them on. Hold the banana for 20 seconds or until the chocolate has almost set, then place the banana back onto the foil plate. Repeat with the remaining bananas. Once the bananas are all covered in chocolate, place them back in the freezer for 10 minutes to allow the chocolate to set completely.
Leftovers – These chocolate covered bananas are best eaten immediately after the chocolate has set. The longer you keep them, the mushier the bananas will become. Place any leftover bananas in a sealed container and store them in the fridge for up to 2 days. Freeze the bananas and enjoy them frozen for up to a month.
Have sweet cravings, but you don’t want to break that diet completely? Try out these delicious Banana Oat Muffins, and you won’t believe how good these Black Bean Chocolate Cakes are!
A Third-Party Application calculated the calories and nutritional information. Please use this as an approximate guide only.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements.
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Cheers (I’ll drink to that) – Cat Tre
Chocolate Covered Bananas
Ingredients
- 250 gm milk chocolate (sweet, cooking chocolate) (NOTE 1)
- 2 tsp mild or light olive oil (NOTE 2)
- 5 small bananas (or 4 medium, ripe but firm) (NOTE 3)
Optional decorations
- rainbow sprinkles
- chocolate sprinkles
- little cake decorations
Instructions
- Peel and cut the bananas in half. Insert a skewer lengthwise into the banana, push it approximately two-thirds deep. Use popsicle sticks with curved ends for small children so they don't hurt themselves. Popsicles sticks are better anyway because it secures the bananas. Line a large plate with foil and place the banana skewers on top, but do not cover. Place the plate of bananas in the freezer for at least 30 minutes or an hour.
- Chop the chocolate roughly into small chunks. Place the chocolate and the oil in a microwave-safe jug (or bowl) and melt it in the microwave. Do this in 40-second bursts, stirring well after each burst until the chocolate has completely melted.
- Holding onto the stick, dip the cold banana into the melted chocolate. Slightly angle the jug towards you so the chocolate falls onto the banana. Cover the entire banana with chocolate with a little on the stick, as doing this will secure the banana on the stick when eating. Let the excess chocolate drip from the banana and back into the jug. If using decorations, quickly sprinkle them on. Hold the banana for 20 seconds or until the chocolate has almost set, then place the banana back onto the foil plate. Repeat with the remaining bananas. Once the bananas are all covered in chocolate, place them back in the freezer for 10 minutes to allow the chocolate to set completely.
