Frozen Banana Pops

Frozen Banana Pops

It's SUMMER! And its really just flying by. Wednesday was the 4th of July, and after a long day at work we celebrated by snuggling up and watching the fireworks together...while munching these! 

Reasons we love banana pops: 
1) vegan friendly, gluten-free, refined sugar-free!
2) cold, delicious summer treats!
3) low-calorie, fat, and sugar content-because you still wanna rock that bikini!

Banana pops are a great alternative to sugary store-bought popsicles and take way less time than whipping up an entire smoothie. Plus, they're portable and great for little hands! We had fun rolling the toppings onto each pop- we tried to pick a different topping for each one we made, but my favorite was definitely raw nutella spread coated in shredded coconut! YUM!

Ingredients
2-4 ripe bananas

toppings for spreading:
peanut butter, coconut butter, raw nutella, soy yogurt, sunflower seed butter, hemp butter 
(ok, so thats what we used-but get CREATIVE! anything spreadable will work here!)

toppings for dipping:
almonds, coconut, sprinkles, fruit, cacao nibs, granola, cereal, chocolate, agave and whatever else!

You'll also want to pick up some popsicle or cake pop sticks, two per banana. I like cake pop sticks best because they're strong and can support the weight of the banana and its (sometimes heavy) toppings. Plus, there's a little more to hold onto, so you won't drop this sweet treat and have to scrap it! 

*tip: when spreading bananas with coconut butter, be aware that it hardens FAST when cold, so you gotta work fast!

Directions
Gather your bananas. Cut each banana in half, pushing a cake pop or popsicle stick into the bottom of each half. Once the stick is in, cut the pointed end off of the banana so that the banana can stand flat, stick pointing up. Eat that 'nana chunk.
Freeze your bananas overnight (at least 3 hours), so that the stick can set and the bananas will be firm for dipping & topping. I just stuck mine on a plate in the freezer.
Once the bananas are ready, remove them from the freezer. Use a butter knife or frosting spatula to coat each banana in whichever soft spread (i.e. peanut butter, chocolate, coconut butter) you prefer. The key to this is really keeping whatever you coat them in soft and malleable, since the bananas (even when frozen) get soft quickly. Nut butters, frostings, yogurts, & puddings are perfect.
Once coated, immediately coat in whichever toppings desired. To minimize mess, lay out a plate for each topping. Sprinkle the topping onto the plate and roll the bananas side-ways through them, turning as the banana gets coated all over.
Now that they look delicious and all you want to do is take a bite- put them back in the freezer. I promise, after a few hours of hardening in the freezer, they're even better!!
Remove 'em from the freezer when the toppings have set (3+ hours), and enjoy!!
We kept our in the freezer for about 3 days before they were all eaten up, but I would bet that a few more days living in the freezer would be just fine.
(Side note! I learned that if you let your banana pop soften, then scrape it off the stick into a bowl and mash it up, you have instant ice cream. Do with that information what you will...)

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