The Carnival & White Chocolate Covered Frozen Banana Pops

          For some reason, when I woke up this morning, I began thinking about spring and summer and the wonderful weather ahead. It is not cold here today, but it isn’t warm either and there is a soft rain falling with a few rumbles of thunder that let us know that soon the temperatures will remain warm and sunny. The buttercups, tulips, and irises are in glorious full-bloom with the daylilies and daisies soon to follow. It is a magical time of renewal with the promise of better days ahead. When I was a kid, springtime was the time of year when everyone got their yards in shape. There was also excitement in the air for the spring and summer sports, and great anticipation for the upcoming summer break from school. It was also the time of year when the carnival arrived in town to set up shop in the local park. The carnival was a mysterious place with exotic people with a midway full of games and a giant Ferris wheel along with a few other amazing rides located along the edges of the park. As we walked along the midway, carnival hawkers would call out to us with the intent of separating us from our money for the promise of a small stuffed animal or other trinket. My favorite game was the ring toss. For this game, I received three rings for fifty cents. If I threw all of them onto the soda pop bottle necks located only a few feet away, I would win a prize. It was so simple that the gentleman running the game could casually toss all three rings practically at once and all of them would land perfectly on the necks of the soda bottles. Simple—unfortunately, I never won anything but it was fun to participate with friends and to cheer each other on.

          Along with the fun and games, the carnival offered food that simply was not available anywhere else in town. They had marvelous cotton candy in beautiful pastel colors. It was particularly fun to watch them make it. They would rotate a paper cone around a spinning tub and the cotton candy would stick to the cone and become a billowing cloud of yumminess.  Although I loved the cotton candy, my favorite food was a frozen banana dipped in chocolate and sometimes into chopped nuts too. It was genius! It wasn’t ice cream and yet it was creamy, sweet, and cold and the chocolate made it even better. With Easter just a few days away, I began to think about how to transform this wonderful treat into something spring like and lovely. Here’s what I came up with:

White Chocolate Covered Frozen Banana Pops   

          Cut the bananas into ½ inch disks and insert a flat popsicle stick into the side of it. By the way, I could not find the flat sticks in the baking area of our local hobby store. I was about to give up and use the round ones when I happened into the woodworking section of the store where I found the flat sticks. The flat sticks are much better because the disks don’t spin when you dip them into the chocolate.

          Next, freeze the disks for about 30 minutes. While the disks are freezing, melt the chocolate and tint it with food coloring (I used white, vanilla flavored, melting chocolate).

          Next, dip the banana disks into the melted chocolate and decorate as you wish. I used cake daisies, cake butterflies, and edible cake glitter.

          Put them back into the freezer for about 15-20 minutes to make sure they are frozen solid.

          Next, I arranged them into a pretty spring arrangement in a toy wheelbarrow with jellybeans (see photo above).

          Eat them quickly because when they melt, the chocolate slides off! They are delicious and sure to become my next universal pleaser!

Click here for the 1 min. video: White Chocolate Covered Frozen Banana Pops

Happy Easter!

Debbie