KITCHEN CURATIONS: LOADED BANANA CHOCOLATE TREATS

These treats basically have my top three favorite foods: frozen banana, nut/seed butters, and chocolate, so it's actually shocking I didn't come up with this recipe sooner. To be honest, this isn't even so much a recipe as it is an assembly line of deliciousness. I got a little creative with my fillings and toppings, but feel free to be a simple or as imaginative as you'd like. Enjoy!!!

INGREDIENTS: (makes 8 treats)

• 1 ripe banana 
• 2 tsp peanut butter (I used Santa Cruz Organic)
• 2 tsp almond butter (I used Trader Joe's)
• 2 tsp cashew butter (I used Once Again)
• 2 tsp tahini (I used Once Again)
• 2 cups dark chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life)
• 1 cup unsalted roasted peanuts, crushed
• 1 cup raw unsalted almonds, crushed
• 1 cup hemp seeds
• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Slice banana into 16 1/4-inch slices.
2. Spread 1 tsp of nut/seed butter onto 8 of the slices. (In other words, 2 with peanut butter, 2 with almond butter, 2 with cashew butter, and 2 with tahini.)
3. Top the nut/seed butter with the other 8 slices of banana to form a "sandwich" with the bananas acting like the bread.
4. Freeze banana "sandwiches" for 6 hours, or overnight.
5. When banana sandwiches are frozen, put out the peanuts, almonds, hemp seeds, and coconut in separate bowls.
6. Then, melt the dark chocolate. You can do this in a double boiler, or simply by using the microwave (30-45 seconds should do the trick!).
7. Dip one banana sandwich into the dark chocolate until it is totally coated.
8. Once coated, immediately dip in topping of choice until totally covered. I chose to do particular flavor combos (see below), but feel free to mix it up!
   • peanut butter + peanuts
   • almond butter + almonds
   • cashew butter + coconut
   • tahini + hemp seeds
9. Repeat steps 7 & 8 for the rest of the banana sandwiches. **
10. Freeze treats until ready to eat.

** If you first coat all of the sandwiches in chocolate, they will harden by the time you go to coat them in toppings, and the toppings won't stick. This is why doing them one by one is important. 

FYI - These treats are gluten-free, grain-free, soy-free, vegan, and vegetarian.