I bought some bananas at Costco this week, and you know that goes.. when you buy bananas at Costco you REALLY BUY BANANAS!  I had about 12 of them, and there was no way we were going to eat them before they went bad.

Normally I freeze overripe bananas for banana bread, but currently I have plenty of  "one day I hope to be banana bread" 'nanners in the freezer so I had to think of something else.

My kids love Banana Babies and I knew I could easily make my own version.

I decided to kick it up a little but adding coconut (and almonds) to mine for more of a Pina Colada/Mounds/Almond Joy flavor.
This is a great recipe to do with the kids, since it is really easy, and how can you go wrong with melted chocolate and bananas?



The first thing you do (or have the kids do) is peel the bananas

And then cut them in half:

Then insert a popsicle stick into each one:

The key to keeping them on the stick when you are coating them in chocolate is to FREEZE the bananas before you dip them:

While they are freezing you can toast your shredded coconut, if you want a toasty, nutty flavor.  I just throw the coconut in a baking dish and put it in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes until it comes out brown and toasted.
Once the bananas have frozen for a few hours and your coconut is cooled, melt the chocolate (I used dark chocolate chips, but melting/dipping chocolate will work better):

Then dip the bananas in the chocolate.. Because I used chips, the chocolate cooled pretty fast when it hit the banana so I had to spread it a little with a spatula to even it out:

Then, while the chocolate is still soft, roll it in the coconut (or nuts or sprinkles or whatever you want):