I avoided the Minions for years. Decades. As a Pixar purist — and someone who is not an aunt on Facebook — the Minions just weren’t part of my life.
Now I have a four-year-old daughter. And she somehow loved the Minions before she even knew what they were.
So while she’s looking forward to seeing Minions & Monsters in theaters later this summer, I’m more excited about the food crossovers we’re getting thanks to the latest movie featuring the banana-obsessed little guys, especially King’s Hawaiian “Shake ’Em” Banana Bites.
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I’ve never had a bad snack from King’s Hawaiian. I will eat a package of dinner rolls. I will buy their Ube Coconut Rolls any and every time I find them in stores. I’ve had to force myself to stop buying their Sweet Pretzel Rolls because I’ll devour the entire thing in a day or two.
After I learned that “Shake ’Em” Banana Bites were on the way, I turned the Snackology radar up to its highest level, scanning the shelves and pop-up stands at my grocery store every time I was there. When I finally saw them go live on Target’s website, I put in an order for store pickup to ensure these tiny rolls were waiting for me when we got to the store.
There are two elements to “Shake ’Em” Banana Bites. At their core, it’s a container full of “soft, pillowy bread bites.” The bread bites themselves are not banana flavored. Er, sorry, “BANANAAA!” flavored. Each bin of these limited-edition bread bites comes with a packet of banana-flavored sugar. Dump the sugar into the tub, seal it up, shake it all together, and faster than you can say [MINION GIBBERISH], you have Banana Bites.
I’m impressed with how effective the banana-flavored sugar is when it comes to delivering on its promise. When properly coated, it’s easy to forget that the bread bites themselves aren’t banana flavored. The sugar adds just the right amount of texture, without turning the already sweet King’s Hawaiian bread too sweet.
The Omnicosm founder. Snackology, Popculturology and The Cold Open writer. A Rochester, N.Y., native now living in the Washington, D.C., area. Won’t pass up a Genny Cream Ale.
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