We’re finally getting to experience a bit of Summer! Perhaps we took a bit of Montreal’s warm weather home with us last week? Whatever the case may be, I’m loving being able to bask in the sun without fear of being rained on.
Each Friday, I bake a couple of sweet treats for Kevin and I to snack on for the weekend. Kevin loves having dessert after dinner. If I prepare something before Friday night, he’s far less likely to drown himself in a bag of chocolate chips, double up on nutella, or eat an entire packet of chocolate soy pudding. Chocolate craving much?
In the past, I’ve made things like doughnuts, cookies, and muffins, but seeing as the weather was so nice and there wasn’t a spot of cool weather in the forecast, I gravitated toward a treat of the no bake variety.
I wanted to come up with a recipe that was vegan, kid-friendly, and had loads of different flavors so I could take rad pictures of them. Ya, I’m the girl that plans out the colors of her meal based on how they’ll photograph. Eh, there are worse things!
I was drafting up a couple of ideas when one hit me – Dairy Queen Banana Splits. I’m pretty sure there were a couple of summers in my youth where all I ate were banana splits. Kids like banana splits, they’re colorful, I had all of the ingredients on hand…
While it would have been a whole heck of a lot easier to have just made a huge bowl of banana soft serve, topped it off with cherries, strawberries, chocolate sauce, and been done with it, the thought of stuffing all of the banana split ingredients into a popsicle mold intrigued me. So naturally, I went for it.
Each popsicle is under 100 calories each, filled with banana split flavor, and so much more healthier! We gobbled all 10 up within 2 days, the sign of a successful treat!
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- 3 over-ripe bananas, broken into pieces
- ¼ cup non-dairy milk – I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 12 strawberries, hulled and halved
- ¼ cup dairy-free chocolate chips
- ¼ section of a fresh pineapple, diced (yield ~1/3 cup)
- 10 cherries, halved with pits removed
- If using a popsicle mold that requires wooden sticks, soak in cool water for 5 minutes before using. I used these popsicle molds.
- Place banana pieces and milk in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a glass with a spout and set aside.
- Place strawberry halves in the blender and pulse just until broken down but not smooth. Place into a dish and set aside.
- Get to layering your popsicles! Begin with a tablespoon or so of banana puree, followed by 4-5 chocolate chips, divide the pulsed strawberries between molds, top with diced pineapple and press the pineapple down slightly so that it’s flat in the mold. Follow this by 2 cherry halves, then top with remaining banana puree.
- Tap the popsicle mold on the counter a couple of times to release bubbles throughout the mold. Top with additional banana puree if needed.
- Slide the soaked sticks into the prepared molds and stick in the freezer for at least 12 hours or better yet, overnight.
- To remove popsicles, run molds under hot water for a couple of seconds and wiggle out.
- Enjoy!
Get your ingredients ready – puree the bananas and milk, clean the blender, then pulse the strawberries. Chop the pineapple and pit the cherries. Feel free to place everything in separate bowls so you can have a group of little hands help you assemble the popsicles!
I used wooden sticks for my popsicles, so soaked them in water for a couple of minutes to avoid them from popping out of the mold while setting in the freezer.
Once all your fruit is ready to go, start layering it all together. I began with banana puree, then chocolate chunks,
strawberry puree, pineapple wedges,
cherries, then extra banana puree. Make sure to tap the mold on the counter to remove the bubbles. Fill with extra banana puree if needed.
Insert the sticks, and you’re ready to go!
Now, to be patient… seems like I’m asking you to do a lot of that lately. Sorry! 
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{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Mmm these sound awesome Leanne! DQ banana splits were a part of my childhood too. My soccer team would usually go to Dairy Queen after tournaments and Blizzards, Treatza-Pizzas, ice cream sandwiches, and the plain ol’ swirly soft serve cones were all popular orders! Great photos (and nice job on the new recipe format!!)
Oh my gosh, I forgot about the treatza pizza! Do they still have those? Ah, they were delicious!!
Your popsicles are looking great – and making me wish I had a set of molds with me!
I have the same molds, I haven’t made pops in a while though… love photographing them too! Kevin is a lucky guy!
Those popsicles look amazing! Such a fantastic way to satisfy cravings in a healthy way! And your photos are amazing!
What an awesome idea! Believe it or not I just had my very first banana split this summer. The hubs and I totally (over)indulged in ice-cream-for-dinner one night and shared this ginormous… thing
It was so worth it! But I think I will be enjoying this version in the future.
Yum great idea! I cannot believe I don’t own a popsicle mold yet. It seems like the food trend of the summer and now it’s all I am craving!
I love these photos by the way. So much fun!
Yum! I can’t believe I haven’t made any popsicles this summer! These look INCREDIBLE! I love that you added in chunks of chocolate. These are going to be a hit in my house for sure!
No popsicles all Summer? The horror! Enjoy
You’re really making me want those molds… your popsicles are beautiful, and a “Banana Split” flavored one is so creative! It would be so cool if you did a series of these with inventive flavors such as this one. Just an idea, I think I might get sick of popsicles after the 10th variety though… nah! Great post!
haha that’s a great idea but you’re right, I’d get sick of popsicles, too!
OH my goodness, these are beautiful, and I bet they are sooooooo delicious. Banana splits were a favorite treat of mine as a kid!
These looks incredibly lush! Thanks for sharing
Fruit on a stick. What could be more fun!
These look so creative and refreshing! Thanks for sharing Leanne
I did a blog post over the weekend about popsicles too – http://figgyandsprout.com/gourmetpopsicles
love this, but where did you get those pop. molds?
Hi Sharon – I purchased them on Amazon and included a link to the popsicle molds in the post. They’re so fabulous!
Wow, these are so pretty!
Wow, this looks amazing! I bought Popsicle molds last month and they haven’t been used once yet because I haven’t taken time to find a recipe. I have to try this soon!
Thanks Lisa! I’ve had a bunch of friends over in the past couple of days and everyone’s asked me if I have leftover popsicles from this post. Good thing I made a second batch! They’ll be a hit in your home, I’m sure of it
Woweee these are so pretty and sound delish. What a great idea! I have lots of popsicle molds but I never used them once this summer. Thanks for the inspiration.
I have a question: the consistency of the pops once they were frozen, was it very crystallized or was it fairly smooth? I have had issues with my more ‘watery based’ pops being more like the texture of compacted snow instead of creamy and rich. I know adding the natural emulsifier Guar Gum will help make pops more smooth and creamy, but it isn’t always necessary for ingredients that can achieve that consistency alone. Thoughts?
Hi Gigi – they’re very similar in consistency to frozen banana… pretty creamy. The ‘icy’ part is in the strawberries. I guess you could make puree with it beforehand and add something like guar gum. I didn’t mind the consistency of these, I thought they were pretty spot on!
Just had a thought… you could mix the banana with soaked cashews and blend it that way. Then do the strawberries with guar gum. They’ll be creamier. Enjoy!