Peanut Banana Bites

In life, there’s times when you have aha moments. Everything just sort of falls into place, you gain a larger understanding of things and it just flows. I had a moment like that when I decided that I can eat dessert everyday.

WAIT WHAT? Yes, I said it. I am a dessert monster and i’m proud of it! Honestly, it gives me so much pleasure in life to eat something sweet. However, I do it the smart way by making sure my desserts are vegan AND healthy, plus I try not to overindulge. Not always succeeding with the latter part lol, but always with the first.

With that in mind, let me introduce you to the new loves of my life;

Peanut Banana Bites

Serves one big dessert monster, or 4 regular peeps 

For the Bars:

• 2 large bananas, peeled
• 1/3 cup (1 dl) roasted peanuts, crushed (use jungle peanuts for completely raw snickers)

For the Caramel:

• 15 soft Medjool dates
• 1 tablespoon cashew or peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons coconut milk
• 2 tablespoon unrefined coconut oil
• Salt, to taste
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Chocolate:

• 1/2 cup (1,5 dl) melted unrefined coconut oil
• 1/2 cup (1,5 dl) cacao powder
• 1/4 cup (1/2 dl) coconut nectar or maple syrup

Make them like this:

To Make the Caramel:

1. Begin by covering your dates with hot water, allowing them to soak while you gather and measure your other ingredients (about 5 minutes).
2. Place nut butter, melted coconut oil, milk, salt, and vanilla in your food processor or blender.
3. Drain the dates in a strainer, gently pressing to remove any excess water.
4. Add the soaked dates to your food processor with the rest of the ingredients. Process until completely smooth, stopping the machine to scrape down the sides as necessary.

To Make the Chocolate:

1. Gently melt the coconut oil over low heat and add the cacao and coconut nectar, whisking until smooth. Pour into a deep bowl.

To Make the Banana Ice Cream and Assemble the Bites:

1. You can either slice them into thick rounds for bites, or slice them into bars. Place sliced bananas on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
2. Crush the peanuts if they aren’t in pieces already.
3. Add a teaspoon or more of caramel to each banana, and sprinkle crushed peanuts on top. Press down gently so they stick in the caramel. Now place the pan in the freezer for about an hour.
4. Take out your now frozen banana caramel bites and either dunk them in the chocolate syrup, and roll them around to coat evenly, or just dunk the bottom half and drizzle chocolate on top. Put them back on the parchment paper and pop into the freezer and store there until ready to eat. You can repeat the dunking process after 10 minutes if you want a thicker chocolate shell.