Banana Sundae Popsicles

Banana Sundae Popsicle- It's a summertime classic on a stick! I should enter it into the Minnesota State Fair!

I don't consider myself to be an extraordinary healthy eater, but I am neither a teenage  boy nor a freshman in college, so my eating habits are certainly more virtuous than some people's. Additionally, I had an entire week devoted to salads, only one of which was not really a salad but a large bowl of pasta, so I am capable of eating vegetables.

That being said, there is one frozen concoction that will lead me straight into a desert black hole.  No, its not a Margarita.  Folks, its a Popsicle!

I love popsicles, and as a sign of the Mad Scientist's undying love and affection (and his ability to follow instructions regarding birthday gifts), I received a popsicle mold for my birthday.  I love this thing so much, that I am considering buying stock in a popsicle stick manufacturing company.  Since my birthday, I have been experimenting with flavors and textures and toppings, and you, dear reader, are about to be the recipient of some dang tasty popsicle "recipes".

Welcome to Popsicle Week 2014!

Like I mentioned earlier, popsicles have the power to deter me from almost any reasonable eating habits, and tonight was no exception.  I made homemade ramen noodle soup for dinner, but about three bites into dinner, the Littlest decided it would be a good opportunity to have a dramatic meltdown.  This is pretty unlike him, but he had been out in the sun all day and had not taken very good naps, so I suppose he was due for a mental breakdown.

I have a hard time eating when my son is dangerously thrashing about in his high chair, so I decided to cut dinner short and give Littlest a quick bath and get him ready for bed. Despite my speed, it was another 30 minutes before I was back downstairs getting ready to eat, and surprisingly the now cold and somewhat congealed soup lost a bit of its appeal.

Any reasonable adult would have nuked the soup for 30 seconds and forged ahead with her dinner plans, but I am no reasonable adult.  I had banana sundae popsicles in the freezer, and a mandate to eat at least one since I wanted the taste to be fresh in my mind to write this post, so I ate one, and then I ate another for good measure.

Banana sundae popsicles are a seriously delicious frozen treat that have the texture of pudding pops, but the flavor of a banana split (minus the cherries as maraschino cherries tasted weird in this).  The sweet and creamy base is the result of overripe bananas combined with creamy dreamy Greek yogurt and sugar, but the add ins are what make this Popsicle sing!  I started by adding some chopped milk chocolate, dark chocolate would be delicious too, but I intentionally chose the sweeter chocolate, because Greek Yogurt does have a bit of a sour bite that I was working to balance.

I also added homemade salted caramel to the mixture, which is a magical sweet and salty sauce that is so deliciously easy to make that I get in a bad habit of mixing up a batch almost every time that I have an unclaimed stick of butter in the house.

Finally, I topped the whole thing in sweet, buttery graham cracker and pecan crumbles, which I was surprised to find held up to the crunchy promise (unlike similar store bought versions that get pretty mushy after a few days in the deep freeze).

I think the banana and yogurt base is a winner, and I hope to use it for some future tropical popsicles, but for now I hope you enjoy this reconstructed banana split popsicle! Just say yum!

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Banana Sundae Popsicles

by Hannah Rounds May-12-2014

All the best flavors of a banana split, on a stick!

Ingredients

• 2 Overripe Bananas
• 1/2 Cup Greek Yogurt
• 2 Teaspoons Split Vanilla
• 3 Tablespoons Milk Chocolate Chunks
• 6 Tablespoons Split Butter
• 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 2 Full Sheets Graham Crackers
• 8 Pecans

Instructions

1. Blend Yogurt, Bananas, 1 Teaspoon of vanilla until smooth. Set aside.2. In a small saucepan, melt 4 Tablespoons of butter, and add brown sugar, remaining vanilla and salt.3. Continuously stir while sauce bubbles rapidly. Once it begins to take on a foamy look, take it aside and let it cool.4. Fold in Chocolate Chunks and slowly fold in the caramel sauce. If the sauce is cool enough it will fold nicely, otherwise you will get little chunks of caramel. Either way is delicious.5. Pour mixture into popsicle molds and freeze at least six hours.5. Pulse Graham Crackers and pecans in a food processor6. Melt remaining butter in a pan, and add graham cracker mixture. Stir until the graham crackers form little crumbles. Spread crumbles on parchment paper.7. Remove popsicle mold from the freezer, set it in a warm, not hot water bath for 20 seconds then remove popsicles.8. Dip both sides of popsicles in the crumb mixture and immediately refreeze on parchment paper in an air tight container.9. Keep frozen at least 30 minutes before enjoying.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 7 hour Total time: 7 hour 15 mins Yield: 6 Popsicles