Frozen Dipped Bananas

Figured i should be true to the "sugar" referred to in the title and share a sweet recipe. I am big on offering options, substitutions and work arounds as that is how i cook. So feel free to do your own thing and customize:

Here's how to make it:

You will need Banana's: ripe but firm. So yellow with no specks works best. You can account for one banana per person. Peel the banana. While holding it in the palm of your hand, insert ice-scream stick or wooden skewer almost upto half the length. Be gentle or you will break the banana or mush it. oops! you just broke it. Well you can still use it. Just won't look as nice. But tastes the same.

Place on wax paper/ silpat mat/ non-stick foil. Freeze until firm. This part can be done in advance and i do it anytime i have banana's that i need to use up. Make sure you store it in an air tight container as individually wrapped dipped-frozen bananas or they will stick together and be a mess

You can do this with most hearty fruits that will hold up to freezing: apples, pears, pineapples

Dipping Sauces: You have plenty of choice here:

Jello pudding: i use the fat free, sugar free kind and prefer chocolate or caramel. You can use any flavor you like and the real deal instead of the ff and sf i use.
You can also use fudge topping from a bottle, chocolate sauce or make your own caramel/choc sauce.

For making your own chocolate sauce, you can use your favorite choc candy  or choc chips. Recommend using just choc ones and not ones with nuts/drie fruits etc in it. Melt it in 10 sec increments in the microwave with rigorous stirring at each interval. This is essential to get the choc to melt evenly and not clump or "bloom" as the chefs call it. Depednign on the amount of choc, it make take 45 sec to a minute and a half. You will know when it is the smooth velvetty texture.

Toppings: sweetened dried coconut flakes, any chopped nuts, chopped dried fruit, chopped up candy etc. You can use candy canes during this time of the yr. Any topping you can crumb up and roll on the banana basically.

Assembly:
When you are ready to eat or serve one, unwrap individual banana, dip in warm sauce of choice and roll in preferred topping. You can at this point freeze it again for a few mins so there are no drips or serve with lots of paper towel for the fun way to eat.

For an adult treat, dip in alcohol of choice after dipping in the sauce. I like coffee liqueurs such as Kahlua or Tia Maria.