Elvis ice pops

We call these Elvis pops around out house. See iced-banana-chocolate-peanut-pops just seemed too long. Yes, these snacks combine some of Elvis’ favorite flavors all into one icy treat.

I tried to solve a couple problems with our family’s version of banana pops: first, cutting a banana in half and then dipping the whole thing in chocolate means that once you bite into the iced pop all the chocolate starts to crack. Gone goes the chocolate and your last few bites of banana are chocolate-less. Not cool. But if you cut up the bananas into pieces it’s easier for kiddos to help with the dipping and (equally importantly, really) you get plenty of chocolate in each bite. Second problem, as much as I like the combo of bananas and chocolate, there’s no crunch. Crush a few peanuts, problem solved.

Note: I’d recommend using popsicle sticks, not plastic knives and toothpicks (pictured). My middle daughter fessed up that my 500-count wooden popsicle stick stash had disappeared. Not to worry, they’re now houses for her Littlest Pet Shop family.

Recipe

Servings: about 30 pops

Prep time: 15 minutes + 20 minutes freezing (twice)

Ingredients

3 large bananas

1 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cups chopped peanuts

Wooden popsicle sticks

Directions

• Cut each banana into 8-10 slices, then insert a popsicle stick into each slice.
• Place the slices onto a baking pan covered with waxed paper and freeze for 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in the microwave until smooth. (With my microwave I set it at half power then cook the chips for 2 minutes; stir.)
• Dip each banana slice into the melted chocolate and then into the chopped peanuts. Return to the pan and freeze again for 20 minutes.

Kids’ reaction:

They loved these mini banana pops that were drenched in chocolate and peanuts. My middle child–who normally avoids all things peanuts–even had one peanut-coated pop. She did prefer those that were peanutless, she said. What I liked about these easy treats is that my kids could do every part of this recipe on their own.