MoFo Noshtalgia: Make 12 Banana Pops!

Today I'm busting out the first of some special summertime noshtalgia posts for MoFo2014 

~ posts that celebrate special summery memories.

Back when I was a little twerp, in the early 80's, there was a product called "Make 12 Banana Pops." At least that's how I remember it. I looked online and was surprised that I couldn't find any mention of it. As I recall, it was a bright yellow square box with a super-cool 80's font that said in big 80's-style letters "Make 12 Banana Pops." There wasn't any other brand name or anything on the box, so it was just called "Make 12 Banana Pops." Inside were 12 popsicle sticks and a foil pouch with chocolate sauce in it.

The packages were always situated right near the actual bananas. Now that I am a grown-up, I can see how clever this was. I remember seeing those bright yellow boxes and asking my mom if we could please make 12 banana pops today?

just 4 banana pops, ready to go in the freezer

Every once in a while, she would buy a packet of "M12BP" and it was great fun. Of course it was partly fun because we got a tasty treat out of the whole deal, but it was also fun because it involved actually making the banana pops as activity with my mom and brother. Together, my brother and I would get to make the pops: First, we would cut the bananas in half and put in some popsicle sticks. This was the hardest part, because you had to wait for the bananas to become frozen.

It turns out that these days it is practically impossible to find old-fashioned popsicle sticks, so I had to use these new-fangled Martha-Stewart type sticks. I'm sure it would be more photo-chic to put your bananas on some parchment paper, but we always used a paper plate, and I am going for the full noshtalgic experience.

After the bananas have finally frozen, you can dip them in chocolate. This is the exciting part. With the original M12BP experience, we just tore open the packet and warmed it on the stove top in a small pan. In today's contemporary (and vegan) recreation, I melted some chocolate chips and coconut oil in the microwave* and then rolled my frozen banana pops in there. It's really cool because the chocolate freezes instantly on the bananas. (*I looked it up on a bunch of sites: 8 oz chocolate + 1.5-2 Tbsp coconut oil = vegan chocolate covering)

As you can see, I did something non-traditional (gasp!) and added some chopped up roasted peanuts to some of them. Obviously, I also only made 4 banana pops, because frankly, that's enough banana pops for us these days.

As soon as I had dipped my banana pops, I put three back into the freezer and bit right into the last one. So good! What a truly noshtalgic flavor blast from the past. Who even knows the last time I had a chocolate coated frozen banana? It was fantastic. It took me right back to the olden days of sitting on the front steps with my brother, eating our banana pops. To my surprise, drawing this doodle brought tears to my eyes. Isn't it amazing how such simple, "meaningless" memories can be so evocative of days-gone-by?