I spent a semester abroad in Paris during the fall of my junior year, and many of my most potent memories revolve around the amazing food that the city of lights is so famous for. I can remember one night, my roommates Tyla, Mara, and I ventured out for a late night snack to a nearby crepe vendor in the 3rd arrondisement. We each treated ourselves to crepes with our favorite filling combintation — nutella and bananas. When we arrived back at our doorstep, we were soon shocked to realize our keys wouldn’t open the door and we were officially locked out — just one of the many joys of living in such an old, yet beautiful, Parisian building. I can remember sitting on the floor, slouched against the door, cell phone glued to my ear calling locksmiths, all the while picking away at my delicious crepe. We eventually got in, although it cost us a pretty penny and many future headaches, but we all later agreed that nutella crepes were always worth it.

I haven’t attempted to make crepes yet, but Mara celebrated her birthday this past weekend, and since she is particularly fond of nutella (as in, we had to stop buying jars of it because she just couldn’t control herself around the chocolate-hazelnut goodness), I knew these frozen treats would be perfect for her New York City rooftop dinner party. Here they are jazzed up for the party with decorative candles:

Since I was staying at my friend’s apartment for the weekend, I wanted an easy recipe that I could whip together without completely destroying her kitchen, and this certainly did the trick. With so many enticing fruit vendors on the corners in NYC, I had no problem finding ripe, cheap bananas and had brought with me from CT a jar of Nutella, some chocolate candy melts, lollipop sticks, and a few bags of toppings (coconut, walnuts, heath bar, and pretzels). This isn’t even much of a recipe, more of a simple idea to work from in order to wow guests and please nutella-obsessed friends. Happy birthday Mara!!

Nutella Covered Frozen Bananas

Recipe adapted from Bell’ailmento

6 ripe, large bananas

1 small jar Nutella

1/2 cup dark chocolate candy melts

Lollipop sticks

Toppings of your choice

– Slice bananas into fourths, discarding the ends

– Place them vertically on a tinfoil-lined baking sheet, and insert a lollipop in each

– Freeze bananas for at least 2 hours, ideally overnight, so they hold their form well during dipping

– When bananas are frozen, melt the chocolate candy melts in a double boiler, adding the nutella towards the end

– Dip each banana into the chocolate and roll immediately in toppings

– Freeze for another hour or so until serving

Recipe yields approximately 24 banana pops