I have a love/hate relationship with banana. It’s the same with butter. I put it in mash, use it in sauces and bake to the high heavens with it, but a smear of the stuff on my sandwich is enough to make my toes curl. As my friend Nicola puts it “You have butter in everything except on your toast”. Which I think is a fair observation.  My aversion to banana is similar in this way; I love bananas and chocolate on the barbeque, frozen bananas whizzed into a smoothie and in a small slice of banoffee pie. But ask me to peel and consume one right then and there will no doubt have me reaching for the nearest bin. I find it sad that at the ripe ol’ age of 21 there are still some foods I cannot stomach, but I always find a way around it. Case in point, these banana pops. Freshly peeled, I find them the devils fruit, but frozen they are a pretty alternative to ice cream pops to cool me down in the sunshine.

What’s even more beautiful about these pops is their simplicity. Cut a banana, add a stick and freeze. Melt some chocolate and dip in smashed frozen berries. Refreeze and you have a pretty little summer coolant on a stick, much like a fancy Magnum, but with banana insides. These pops would be a great project for little hands; give them a pair of scissors to snip the banana, let them smash the berries and break up the chocolate. Of course, adults can devour them just the same. Purely for tasting purposes of course.

 

Makes 4 pops

You Will Need

2 bananas

Wooden skewers, carefully cut into 5-6cm pieces

100g good quality white chocolate

A large handful frozen berries

 

Peel the bananas and on a chopping board, cut in half to create 4 pieces. Place a wooden skewer in the flattest end of the banana and push in 2cm. Lay on a sheet of baking parchment and freeze for 1-2 hours.

Place a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water, and add the chocolate to the bowl. Slowly melt, then remove from the heat and place on a tea towel to cool slightly. Meanwhile, place the berries in a freezer bag and use a rolling pin to smash the berries into small pieces. Pour onto a plate.

To make the pops, you will need to work quite quickly, as the chocolate will begin to set as soon as it hits the frozen banana. Dip each banana lolly in the chocolate to completely coat, then roll in the smashed berries. Place back on the parchment paper and repeat until all the pops are covered in chocolate and berries. If there are any gaps, simply drizzle over more chocolate and dip in the berries. Place the pops back in the freezer and freeze for 1 hour or until set. Enjoy in the fleeting summer sunshine.