Frozen Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Grahams + National Adoption Day

Some of my favorite family moments happened because of adoption. 7 of my 9 cousins on my mom’s side are adopted (both as infants and as older kids), and we were all super close growing up. I can’t imagine how much less interesting my life would have been if they weren’t part of our family.

There are so many loving families who are waiting for children, and so many wonderful children who deserve a loving family environment. And what better way to bring families together than by getting in the kitchen together?

One of my favorite childhood memories is when I was baking with 3 of my cousins at their house in Indiana. We were making cookies when one of us decided to jokingly toss a bit of flour at someone else. That ended up turning into a full-on 4 person flour battle that was sooooo much fun to be part of… until my aunt came down to check in on all that giggling and saw her entire kitchen just absolutely covered in flour.

We spent all night trying to clean it up, but she was finding and cleaning flour out of every single crack and crevice of her kitchen for months afterward. We still joke about it to this day, and my uncle occasionally threatens to come out to New York to do the same thing to my kitchen.

My most recent kitchen adventure with a kiddo was certainly less messy, although there were quite a few sprinkles all around my kitchen after my son got done eating them straight from the bowl applying them delicately to our frozen treats.

We love making that one ingredient banana ice cream (just frozen bananas that you pop in the blender or food processor), so I thought it would be fun to make something like a mini ice cream sandwich without the ice cream. And graham crackers were the perfect base!

Peanut butter and banana is always a big hit, so we whipped them together with a little bit of cinnamon in the food processor before piping it onto the grahams.

I let them freeze a bit to firm up before dipping them in melted chocolate, decorating them and freezing them completely.

The decorating was definitely my son’s favorite part! Well, so was QC-ing every single component.

Hey, all great chefs taste as they go, right?

I let him pick out sprinkles and I chose shredded coconut. Both worked beautifully with the peanut butter-banana-chocolate combo.

I used honey grahams since I was going to be dipping them in chocolate, but cinnamon or chocolate would be delicious as well!

The chocolate coating froze into a nice, crispy coating that held up well in the freezer for a few days.

This platter of treats was a big hit with my family. We enjoyed them for dessert while we talked about things we love about our family. And getting in the kitchen together is most certainly one of the things we love most.

I really enjoyed creating this recipe with a brand that values all families, no matter what form they come in. Growing up, my family was far from “normal”, but I wouldn’t want it any other way! And the dynamic of the average American family has changed to reflect this:

• According to a 2010 U.S. Census, more than 1.5 million American families have been touched by adoption.
• One in 12 married couples in the U.S. are interracial.
• Nearly 40% of children don’t live with both of their biological parents. Only 62% of children live with their two biological parents.
• There are 125,000-plus same-sex couples currently raising children in the U.S.

Do you have a personal connection to adoption? I’d love to hear about it in the comments! And while you’re at it, check out Honey Maid’s adorable video for How to Make Very Berry “Cheesecakes”.

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I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.