Praline and Chocolate Covered Bananas

6 small ripe bananas

2 toothpicks

Whipped cream

Shaved chocolate for garnish

For the pralines:
2 tablespoons chopped almonds


2 tablespoons chopped hazelnuts

1/4 cup caster sugar

For the chocolate sauce:

12 ounces semisweet chocolate
In a saucepan over low heat, combine the almonds, hazelnuts and sugar. Stir continuously until the sugar melts. Increase the heat until a dark syrup is formed. Pour the hot mixture onto a baking sheet and let the mixture cool and harden. When it becomes hard, break it into pieces, process the pieces in a food processor fitted with a steel blade until it becomes coarsely chopped. Spread on a plate and set aside.

In a glass pyrex bowl over a simmering pot of water, melt the chocolate. Remove the bowl from the pot and set aside.

Using toothpicks at either end of each banana, dip and roll the bananas in the chocolate sauce and then the coarsely chopped praline mix. Arrange on serving plates, top with whipped cream, sprinkle the top with shaved chocolate and serve.

Note: Caster sugar is superfine sugar.