Dry Banana Hippy Hat

If any of you have seen the Frozen Fever Disney Short movie, this is a reference to one of the scenes in it. It honestly has nothing to do with what I am writing about, other than my kids loved it. In my quest to eat healthy and make healthy snacks for my kids to eat, I made some dehydrated bananas.

I don’t know about you, but the ones from the store are not like the ones my mom made, that my kids loved, and that I now make. The store-bought dried bananas are super crunchy, and some are even fried before or after they are dried. The texture didn’t sit well with my son and the flavor didn’t sit well with my daughter. I wasn’t too thrilled that these were supposed to be dried bananas, yet at some point, they had been fried. I have a dehydrator, and after I do the initial slicing of the fruit, I don’t have to do anything until they are done! Easy enough for me, so I set out to make my own dried bananas. When I presented them to my kids, they called them ‘Dry Banana Hippy Hats, and the name has stuck. They are excited whenever I make them and I love that they actually are eating something healthy I made.

Quick instructions are to use slightly over-ripe bananas, similar to the ones you would be using for banana bread. I have 6 shelves for my dehydrator, and for 4 bananas, I only used 2 of the shelves. Slice the bananas super thin and lay the slices out on the shelves. Start the dehydrator and check it after about 6 hours. I ended up drying our bananas for 8 hours, and they were the perfect chewy and sweet combination. Try out the timing for how you and your family like them, and enjoy a healthy treat!