Frozen Chocolate Bananas

Sounds odd, doesn't it? But you'll believe it when you try it. These are truly sensational – better than ice cream or a sorbet. First you bite into crisp frozen chocolate and then meet the beautifully fragrant iced banana. Heaven.

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Method

First cut each bamboo skewer in half using scissors, and snip off the sharp point. Now peel the bananas, then, slicing sharply on the diagonal to produce long oval slices, cut each one into 6 (discarding the end bits or, more likely, eating them!). Each slice should be about 1/2 in (1 cm) wide. Next carefully insert one end of the bamboo skewer into each one, then place them on the parchment-lined tray and pop it in the freezer for 30 minutes.
While that's happening, melt the chocolate. Place in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water. Remove it from the heat and allow to cool. After 30 minutes, remove the banana slices from the freezer and, taking each one in turn, half-dip into the melted chocolate, leaving some banana uncovered at the base to give it a kind of two-tone effect. The chocolate will set almost instantly on the frozen banana, so place them all back on the tray and return them to the freezer until you are ready to eat – they can be served straight from the freezer. The wonderful thing here is that after they have refrozen, you can pack them in layers between sheets of parchment paper in polythene boxes, and keep them frozen so you have a little stock on tap for whenever you feel like a treat.
Note: If you like, after dipping the bananas in the chocolate, you could also dip them in chopped nuts – just a thought.
_This recipe is taken from The Delia Collection: Chocolate and has also appeared in Sainsbury's Magazine_.