Frozen Treats: Banana Edition, dedicated to my Pina Colada friend

We made Pina Colada popsicles, I swear. They were beautiful, delicious, created with leftover coconut milk and a quick trip to the supermarket for pineapple juice. However, quite suddenly the summer raided Philadelphia and left us with little choice other than to eat the pops. So, needless to say, they did not make it on to Mini and Micro.

Inspired by our new found love of the freezer, though, we planned to make frozen

bananas. And then school ended! In honor of our ambitions, however, I dedicate this entry of frozen treats to my Pina Colada friend and our dreams; maybe next year, when I have a freezer which can actually hold things

The frozen banana basics: Take a banana cut it either in half or at least up to it's widest diameter. The insert a popsicle stick a couple inches into the flat base of the banana. Try not to follow the banana's segments, or it will split apart. If you don't have popsicle sticks (like me!) then cheap, thin, plastic knives work, too. Put the bananas on a plate and freeze.

Chocolate dipped frozen bananas have been done, so I thought I'd jazz them up a bit. The first requires chocolate and marzipan (aka almond past + sugar, which is a delicious snack all by itself). Melt the chocolate in the microwave for 1 minute on high, take it out stir, and then put it back in for 30 seconds (Do not just put it in for 90 seconds or it will fry). Cut up or crumble your marzipan. Now, I added it to the chocolate and then chocolatified my banana, but because of the marzipan chunks, the result had more chocolate than I wanted. If you like less chocolate, first spoon on and spread out the chocolate on 1 side (so the chocolate doesn't freeze to the plate) of the banana and sprinkle on the marzipan. Put the banana back in the freezer until the chocolate is frozen. Remove and repeat on the other side. However, if the banana is really just an edible spoon for your chocolate and marzipan, throw the almond paste into the chocolate and then spoon it onto the banana.

The next banana is the classic salted caramel and chocolate.

I had Werther's Original chewy caramels, which were harder than expected. I probably should have resolved this by microwaving them until they were just melted (i.e. still pretty viscous) and spooning the caramel on the

banana in the half-half style. But, I, Playdoh lover that I am, decided to roll the caramels out into long skinny snakes and wrap them around the banana. I think lightly sprinkled salt on the banana, before spooning on the chocolate (remember, half-half). I was informed by my tasting crew that the salt was a bit spotty and that the fluctuations in salinity messed with the flavor, so word to the wise, try to make it even.

Freeze and Om Nom! Stay cool everyone! More Frozen Treats to come.

Question: got a favorite summertime snack?

Oh!! And, to all of you who posted comments and never got replies, my apologies!! I have now added comment notification (who knew that existed?) and should be able to keep up with y'all from now on =)