Banana Chocolate Popsicle or Ice Cream

Have you had this happen to you? You go out and buy bananas (now remind me why there should always be bananas at home?) Oh Yes! DH and kids eat them and I avoid them. Then why do you buy them you ask? Good Question! DH who stops by the grocery store for something else also grabs a bunch of bananas. So now you have bunches of bananas all ripening at the same time. There is only so much smoothie you can drink. While I am perfectly OK with bananas in smoothies and ice creams and such eating straight up is what gives me the heebie jeebies.

I chance upon this recipe for Banana Nutella Fudgesicles and suddenly there is a tasty solution for the large amount of over ripe bananas.

I have mixed feelings now verging on avoidance over Nutella. It is marketed as a healthy wholesome breakfast alternative but the truth is it has a whopping amount of sugar and fat. Reading from the label, sugar and modified palm oil are top ingredients in Nutella - not hazel nuts or skim milk :(. Anyway sugar was not the reason why I stopped buying Nutella every week - yes a 13 oz jar was disappearing every week before I woke up. The kids spread it on toast, pancakes, croissants(oh they are yummy on slightly toasted croissants) and eaten by the spoonfuls just like that. Anyway what scared me first was the palm oil in it. Palm oil I knew was not a good thing and I read that people in India especially the poor who use it primarily for cooking were dying increasingly of heart disease, the article was in regards to Malaysia dumping palm oil into India markets. So while Nutella maybe an occasional snack or treat it definitely is not breakfast material. I know there are a lot of people who will dispute that assertion but...

Nutella it seems is reigning king of spreads going by its popularity on blogs and the gushing praise it receives from almost everybody writing about it. The reason I avoided dishing it for the longest time. Just wanted to avoid a food war on these pages. Do share where Nutella stands in your home, dear readers.

That is my convoluted explanation for not using Nutella. I almost feel my food blogger credentials will be taken away if I do not gush about Nutella. This kind of unpaid marketing must be a coup for the company. That does not mean I will never buy it. Just like any other junk food I will buy it rarely but to my chagrin watch it disappear almost immediately.

I do not blame you if grocery shopping has become a minefield to be navigated with utmost care and precision. Take one wrong step and you fall into hydrogenated, saturated, food coloring, GMO, imitation fake soy meat products, additives, the list is endless hell that is hard to wade out of. So many products have become off limits that I always worry I am going fall of this wagon sometime.

If you do not want to use Nutella there are plenty of other options. I used semi sweet chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk which I happened to have on hand for making fudge. Melted chocolate bars or chocolate chips melted with some olive oil or butter will all work.

These were the creamiest popsicles without cream that we ever tasted.

Banana Chocolate Popsicle
Preparation Time:5 minutes
Cooking Time:10 minutes
Freezing Time:8 hours
Ingredients

1. 3 very ripe bananas
2. 4 tbsp of chocolate chips
3. 4 tbsp of sweetened condensed milk (optional)
4. 2 tsp of butter (optional)

Method

1. Blend the bananas till smooth
2. In a double boiler melt the chocolate if not using condensed milk and butter.
3. If using condensed milk, add the chocolate chips, condensed milk and butter and in a low flame keep stirring till they melt. Let Cool.
4. Add the cooled melted chocolate to the blender and give it one more spin.
5. Pour into Popsicle molds or small servable cups or in a large container and freeze for at least 8 hours.