Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bites

If you are like every person I’ve ever met, sometimes you just need a bite of something sweet! If you’re trying to limit snacks and sweets that can present a problem. Not anymore! These Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bites are the perfect sweet snack to satisfy your cravings and keep you feeling healthy and on track!

Good news: not only is this recipe delicious, it may just be one of the easiest desserts/snacks you will ever make!

This is the sort of dessert you need when you want a bite of something sweet and decadent but don’t want to feel like you crashed off course after you’re done. Make a big batch and keep them wrapped in your refrigerator for a sweet bite any time!

I don’t take the idea of dessert very seriously, but I’m 100% aware that’s strange of me. I’m just not a big sweets girl (give me a cheese plate any day).

I do however, take the idea of peanut butter seriously. This recipe combines the amazing things in life, namely peanut butter, bananas, coconut and dark chocolate, and packages them in a cute little bite-size nugget with very little effort on your part.

The downside of this recipe shows itself very early on in the process. You have to wait 2 hours to let your bananas freeze. But it’s such a cute little treat, using healthy ingredients to boot, that it’s worth the wait.

Ingredient Break Down

Dark Chocolate

I use dark chocolate in this recipe mainly because I like it better than milk chocolate, but dark chocolate also holds some health benefits. Remember: the higher the cocoa content, the higher the nutrient content.

Dark chocolate…

• contains antioxidants that fight cancer-causing free radicals
• lowers the amount of oxidized LDL in your bloodstream which decreases your risk of heart-related disease
• is a good source of iron, magnesium, copper and manganese

Peanut Butter

I used organic, unsalted, natural peanut butter for this recipe (and in general), and I recommend that you do too. Conventional peanut butters are, unfortunately, loaded with added ingredients: sugar, sodium, preservatives, that really shouldn’t be there. I promise, once you go natural you’ll never go back. The peanuts without the sugar? Life changing. Just don’t forget to really mix in the oil on top!

Bananas

Bananas are the perfect frozen fruit for this dessert. When you pull the bites out of the freezer and let them sit for a few minutes, the banana has a decadent, ice-cream-esque texture that’s hard to beat.

Coconut Oil

Coconut oil is a saturated fat with a lot of hype circling it right now. I use it, like other fats, in moderation. I like it in this recipe. The flavor combines well with dark chocolate and banana, and when it melts with the chocolate the mixture has a great texture.

How Do You Make a Double Boiler?

You can certainly buy a double-boiler for this recipe, or build your own like I did.

This is a super simple substitute that you can use with items you likely already own.

What you need:

• medium sized sauce pot
• ovenproof glass bowl or stainless steel bowl that will fit snuggly in the pot without touching the bottom

Fill sauce pot 1/4 of the way with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and place your bowl on top of the sauce pot (you want the bowl to hover 2-3″ over the water). Add the ingredients and follow the rest of the recipe!

The Recipe: Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bites

Now for the good stuff!

Ingredients:

• 2 bananas, just this side of ripe
• 3 tbsp peanut butter
• 6 ounces dark chocolate morsels
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• coconut cooking spray

Make it:

• Wrap your cutting board with 1 sheet of wax paper and tape the ends together. Spray with coconut oil spray to help prevent sticking.
• Peel both bananas. Slice on a bias into 1/2″ slices. You should get about 10 slices per banana.
• Spread 1/2 tsp of peanut butter onto 1 slice and top with a second. Place on cutting board. Repeat until all slices are sandwiched.
  Place cutting board in freezer for 2 hours.
• Right before pulling banana bites from the freezer, melt the dark chocolate and coconut oil in a double boiler.
• Once chocolate has melted, remove banana bites from the freezer. Dip each bite individually into the chocolate, carefully coating all sides. Once bites are coated, place them back on the wax paper and freeze for 1 more hour.
• Store in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks.

Recipe Notes

1. Try to not over-stir the chocolate while it melts. The less you mess with it, the smoother the outcome.
2. If you don’t like peanut butter or have a peanut allergy, feel free to use almond butter or any other nut/seed butter that you enjoy.
3. If your melted chocolate starts to seize up before you’ve finished coating the banana slices, simply reheat for a few seconds on your double boiler.