Banana Boats

The last two Fridays Eric and I have spent the evenings up Millcreek Canyon hanging out by a fire and roasting hot dogs and other food stuffs. This is a ridiculously cheap activity for us, and we love it. The weather is perfect for it right now, and we are enjoying watching the leaves change each time we go up the canyon.

A few years ago we took a camping class together (Does that sound like a blow-off class? It totally was.) where we learned about a really great campfire treat that we call banana boats. Maybe the original people called them banana boats as well, but I can't remember.

I haven't offered a recipe in a very, very, very long time, so this post is devoted to the makings of banana boats. While these are traditionally baked over a campfire, you can do them just as easily in your oven.

First, lay the bananas on their sides and take off a portion of the peel, but still leave it attached at the stem. (Technically you do not have to leave it attached, but it is easier if you do.)






Then cut out a portion of the banana to fill with whatever fillings you are using. (I have suggested fillings at the bottom of the instructions.)

(You should note that the purple blob in the corner of this photo is my belly.)




When you've hollowed out your bananas, they should look like this. Of course, you can hollow out your bananas more or less based on your preferences. It will be easier to hollow out your bananas if they are fairly ripe. But really, they are bananas. We're not talking about carving pumpkins, here. Just use a decent knife, and you are fine.



Once you've hollowed out your bananas the way you want them, fill them with the various fillings. In this case, we used peanut butter, fudge topping, marshmallows and graham cracker crumbs.








Place the peel over the filled in portion of the banana. This is fairly important because it will keep your filling where it belongs instead of getting all over the tin foil.

Then wrap your bananas in foil. Each banana should be wrapped separately.

Bake your bananas at 400 degrees (Fahrenheit, obviously) for about 15-20 minutes. You want the banana to be cooked enough that it becomes fairly caramelized. If you are doing this on an outside fire, you will want to put your bananas on hot coals and leave them there only about 5-8 minutes. Even if you don't cook them all the way through, everything will still taste really good, but the caramelized bananas are pretty much to die for.

When all is said and done, your banana will look kind of gross. But it will taste oh so yummy. (Eating it in the dark will help you not notice that it doesn't actually look particularly appetizing. I believe that is partly why it is usually a camping favorite.)







Filling suggestions:

• Any sort of ice cream topping like caramel, fudge, marshmallow cream.
• Marshmallows
  
• Chocolate chips
• Peanut butter
• Various types of jam

Anybody else is welcome to offer suggestions of fillers. Eric and I typically do marshmallows and chocolate chips.

My thanks to Priscilla for taking the photos during the making of said banana boats.