Here’s another easy, tasty snack to add to our camp food repertoire!
Our Japanese-language reporter Masanuki Sunakoma tends to get a little excited about things, especially easy-to-use kitchen gadgets. A couple of years ago he was obsessed with his new cast iron waffle maker and went on a spree testing out the waffling capabilities of various unexpected foods.
Now his latest cooking love interest is a hot sandwich maker, which he’s already used to make grilled yakisoba sandwiches and grilled croquette sandwiches. But his experimentation isn’t limited to savory concoctions. No, he’s recently jumped over to the dessert train and tried out a delicious sweet treat you’ll want to make right away: chocolate banana hand pies.
Screenshot from YouTube/兼業主夫ケンのキャンプ飯チャンネル / Ken Outdoor Cooking
Masanuki’s inspiration, as with his other hot sandwich experiments, came from Japanese YouTuber Ken, who runs Stay-At-Home Dad Ken’s Outdoor Cooking, sharing recipes for easy-to-make camping food. And like Ken’s other recipes, Masanuki does not regret trying this one. He isn’t particularly good at cooking, and would never have dreamed the day would come when he would be obsessed with making pies, but here we are, and here’s the recipe for Hot Sandwich Maker Chocolate Banana Pie.
Ingredients:
● 1 frozen pastry sheet (defrosted)
● 1/2 banana
● Chocolate (amount as desired)
● A sprinkling of flour
Step 1. Once your pastry sheet has reached room temperature, cut it in half. Then, sprinkle some flour on your dough to keep it from sticking in the next step.
Step 2. Roll out your sheet halves to fit the size of your grilled sandwich maker. If you don’t have a rolling pin, you can use an unopened canned drink. Whether you’re camping or at home, you probably have some beer lying around, right? If you’re concerned about sanitation, Ken suggests you wrap some plastic wrap around the can before rolling with it.
Step 3. Place your chocolate pieces on one end of the pastry sheet.
Step 4. Cut your banana into slices and place the slices on top of the chocolate.
Step 5. On the opposite side of your pie sheet, slice air vents about two centimeters (3/4 inches) apart. Now it really feels like you’re making a pastry. If you’re like Masanuki, you’ll get kind of excited at this point.
Step 6. Fold the sliced half over the other half…
And press the edges together with a fork. Do you feel like you’re making a pastry yet?!
Step 7. Place your mini-pastries in your grilled sandwich maker and grill on low heat for about four minutes. If you’re making this for the first time, Masanuki recommends paying special attention to make sure you don’t burn them.
Step 8. Once they’ve got some nice color on them, flip the grilled sandwich maker and grill for another four minutes.
Step 9. When that side, too, has developed a nice color…
Take them out of the grilled sandwich maker…
And cut them into pieces for sharing. (Or eat them all yourself. This is a no-judgment zone.)
Put the pieces on a plate, and voila! You’ve made handheld chocolate-banana pies in just 9 easy steps!
Needless to say, they were absolutely delicious when eaten hot out of the pan. The pastries came out unbelievably crispy, and the combination has that classic deliciousness that just makes you feel good. If you want, you can serve it with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, but you don’t have to. The flavor already gets full marks on its own.
It was super easy and fast to make, so you could even make this for breakfast on busy mornings. It would also probably be a huge hit when camping or at barbecues. Having one of these delicious sweet pies when relaxing in the outdoors with family and friends sounds like a dream.
Of course, you might also want some savory foods to eat while camping (or even at home). For other, non-sandwich camping meals, check out the other easy, tasty recipes from Stay-at-Home Dad Ken that we’ve tried: cheese spring rolls and hashimaki.
Recipe: Stay-at-Home Dad Ken’s Outdoor Cooking, used with permission
Images © SoraNews24 except where noted
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