Vegan Fruit pops with peanut butter chocolate shell

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In the vegan world, banana is pretty much a queen (sharing the crown perhaps with tahini), especially when it comes to desserts.

I guess by now I’m not going to surprise anyone by saying that if you freeze banana slices, then blend them in a high speed blender (or a strong food processor), you will get a fabulous ice-cream (also known as nice-cream).

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the banana aftertaste in ice-creams. however, when you play with it by adding another fruit to the party, the possibilities become much more interesting and tasty, not to mention this is likely the healthiest version of ice-cream you can have.

What takes these types of ice-creams to the next level, in my mind, is a yummy shell. And what’s better than a peanut butter and chocolate shell? You damn right: nothing!

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when you make fruit pops (so that you can play with this recipe and create variations from it), and of course the recipe for what’s in the pictures follows:

• You can add pretty much any frozen fruit to the frozen banana base (I made myself a habit to cut and freeze overripe fruit at the end of the season when it’s cheaper, that way I always have an ice-cream base in my freezer), creating different colors and flavors each time.
• Liquid is not a must, however, if you don’y own a high speed blender or a strong food processor it is highly recommended (you are likely to need some liquid to help the blender create a smooth ice-cream. When I use my Vitamix I usually do just fruit as I have the tamper to push it into the blades). If you like the coconut flavor then by all means add some coconut milk, it will make the ice-cream creamier.
• If you wish to have it as ice-cream, consume immediately after blending, as it will stiffen in freezing. If you want to make pops then the freezing is OK.
• To get “perfect looking” pops, without air hols in them, fill up each mold, then gently bang it on the working surface. While this is mainly an aesthetic issue, if you are making these for kids, trust me, you would need to account to each and every imperfection of the pops 🙂 .
• In order for the shell to turn out smooth you need to dip the pops in cups full of peanut butter and chocolate. The problem here is that it requires a bigger amount of each of them than the amount we’r actually going to need for the pops. I am OK with that though, as I use the excess to top granola etc. (and if you can’t find a worth while use for some excess of peanut butter and chocolate then you really need to check yourself 🙂 ). You could use a tea spoon or a spatula to cover the pops with the shell, but I find that A it’s a bit exhausting and B it doesn’t turn out smooth enough.
• If your peanut butter was stored in the fridge (or you are lucky enough to live in a place where it’s a bit cooler), place it in a cup inside a pot with boiling water (without any water getting into the cup) and stir a bit, to help it be more runny.
• You can, of course, sub the peanut butter with any of your favorite nut butter, and regarding the chocolate, you can use any store bought one, but if you want to keep it on the extra healthy ally, make the shell like I use for the chocolate covered bite sized ice cream (which basically means 1/2 cup cocoa butter, 1/2 cup cocoa mass, and 1/2 cup pure maple syrup, heated till combine over bain-marie).
• The pink color of these pops is obtained by using strawberries. Apart from the fact that it is tasty, it makes the whole pops more attractive to our kids, that usually are so used to the commercially available products, that are artificially colored. The pink also contributes to the sweetness we feel, and if you want to read some very interesting facts about the connection between the color of our food and drinks to the taste we feel, check this article.

The Dishometer Rating:

5 from 1 reviews

Vegan Fruit pops with peanut butter chocolate shell

 

הדפסה

זמן הכנה

10 דקות

זמן בישול

זמן כולל

10 דקות

 

Simple, natural and health fruit pops

מאת: Moran Raskin

סוג מתכון: Dessert

מנות: 6

מרכיבים

• ¾ cup sliced frozen banana
• ¾ cup frozen strawberries
• ½ cup coconut milk/cream
• ½ cup peanut butter
• ½ cup chocolate (either vegan store bought one, or check above for my recipe for healyh homemade chocolate)

הוראות הכנה

1. Place the banana slices (3/4 cup), the strawberries (3/4 cup, and the coconut milk/cream (1/2 cup) in a high speed blender or food processor and blend until it forms a smooth ice-cream like texture.
2. Fill up pop molds and place in the freezer.
3. Before you are ready to take them out of the freezer (allow a few hours to freeze), have your shell ingredients ready:
4. Warm the peanut butter to help it become more runny if needed, and melt the chocolate in a bain-marie (place the chocolate or the chocolate ingredients into a small pot, and that pot into a larger pot with boiling water. Stir continuously until it melts, and be careful not to let any water in).
5. Place the peanut butter and the melted chocolate in cups (1 for each).
6. Take one pop from it's mold (dip it in a bawl with warm water for easy extraction), dip it quickly in the peanut butter cup, wait a few seconds then dip it in the chocolate cup.
7. Place back in the freezer for the shell to freeze (about 30 minutes). * If you freezer is big enough and you have room available, I'd recommend you place the pops on an edge of a plate when the covered part is not touching the plate, that way the shells will not stick to the plate and will not break. In any case use parchment paper.
8. Repeat with the rest of the pops.

3.5.3208

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Moran