I can just smell the campfire now. I can feel that tinge of burn in my eyes from the smoke, and I can hear the John Denver.
Campfires remind me of the last nights of sleep away summer camp. When I sat with a group of girls… girls who just a week earlier had been complete strangers, now absolute best friends… bidding farewell to our Summer time together, wondering how we’d ever live without each other, without craft hour, without the flagpole song, without the knot workshop, without sliding down the big hill on a giant block of ice. Just HOW will we go on?
We’d sing Leaving on a Jet Plane and cry… all the way CRY and promise friendship and love and more summers to come. Then we’d eat these bananas gooey chocolate and marshmallow bananas, sleep one last night in our bunks, fold up our sleeping bags (impossible for child hands), and wait for our parents to come pick us up to take us back to home-summer with all of its daytime television and chores (uuugh chores).
I’m still figuring out how to recreate that campfire feeling here in New Orleans. I think it’s too humid for fire. Is that a thing? I think, yes. Luckily, I have an oven that heats itself with fire and I can hustle up the most gooey part of my memories: baked bananas, in foil, with a glorious mess of toppings.
Bananas and foil, an easy place to start.
Crank the heat in your oven, chop some pistachios, crumble up some Oreo cookies, dig the sprinkles out of the pantry, and pour some of your favorite cold cereal. All em toppings! That was easy!
Bananas are sliced down the center and aggressively stuffed with milk chocolate chips and mini marshmallows.
Seal the foil around each individual banana. Seal it well so none of the melting chocolate seeps out of the corners. Throw the little banana packages on a baking sheet and bake until melted through and softened.
Pick your poison (not literally…). What kind of topping fiend are you? I’m a sprinkle, pistachio, Oreo kind of girl. All of em, without shame.
Carefully balance the hot banana bundle on your lap, crank the John Denver, and take yourself back to summer camp. It’s a good life.
PrintCampfire Bananas At Home
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
What You’ll Need
- Bananas, ripe and peeled
- Tin foil
- Milk chocolate chips
- Mini marshmallows
- Chopped pistachios
- Rainbow sprinkles
- Crumbled Oreos
- Sugary cold cereal
Instructions
- Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and heat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Slice bananas down the center vertically. Wrap individually in foil. Top each banana with chocolate chips and marshmallow. Seal the foil and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until chocolate and marshmallow has melted and the bananas are softened slightly.
- Remove from the oven, carefully open the foil and top with whatever toppings you’d like. Enjoy and Happy Summer!
Grace
Love!!! Brings back so many memories of Girl Scout camp. I know you mentioned before that you were a Girl Scout and I was too even until senior year of high school! Banana boats were a camp staple. Love the addition of cookies, cereal, and nuts. We used to split open the banana, smear peanut butter in the middle, stuff with hershey bar pieces, and then mini marshmallows on top. I’ll have to make these to relive my childhood.
Ali
These look beautiful! They’re really fun to make at bonfires especially with some delish hot fudge. Gotta make them soon!!!!
Maddy @ The Sweetest Beet
Oh man, Joy, you’ve done it again. I think I could almost get away with having this for breakfast… Banana, dark chocolate, basically health food. Looks delicious, can’t wait to try it!
Bikinis and Bibs
I’m not a camper…but these really make me want to go camping:)
Emily @ Life on Food
Summer perfection!! These look so good. Sure way to use up bananas before they go brown.
Jenna
These look so adorable!! I’ve never baked bananas before and I’d love to give it a try!
cookingcassy
For me and my campmates, it was James Taylor instead of John Denver,
caitlin
these are happening when I go on vacation soon to the Finger Lakes.. open-fire style. pistachios for me, too!
daydreamingfoodie
The ones with pistachio look just perfect to me. What a great thing to do with the little people – I know a certain some one who would love picking all her own toppings ( oh and me too! )
findingmykd
Banana boats!! So great. :)
Jamie
Ugh, I can’t do it! I missed this banana boat as a child and now the thought of warm mushy banana, no matter what the topping, eeks me out. But they look awesome. = )
Carlisle
This post really made me so happy!! I LOVED summer camp – the pine trees and feeling so accomplished for mastering something like…canoeing. Aw camp.
Also – hell yes John Denver! Though at our camp it was a lot of “Galileo” by Indigo Girls :)
http://www.angelhearthomes.blogspot.com
Laura Hager
I’ve never had bananas like this, but it looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it!
Laura
http://www.laurahager.blogspot.com
Erin
These are my absolute favorite campfire treat! I used to make these at girl scout camp when I was younger. I usually left the bananas in the peel if I remember correctly, which made them easy to scoop out, but never did any toppings besides chocolate chips and marshmallows. The ones you made are all so beautiful!
-E
Girl Named Allyn
Golden Grahams would be my winner, mainly as an excuse to buy Golden Grahams and then eat large quantities (but doled out in small bowls at a time because sogginess is not acceptable) doused in super cold whole milk.
These look SOOOOO GOOD
joythebaker
I really like the way you think!