I happen to know this because a big part of my heart remains in Ghana, where my charity, Point Hope, does good work bringing food, water, education, skills training, and medical resources to the people there. It’s also where I was blessed to meet five of my children.

This Christmas, the children in our Point Hope program would like to share a blessing with you. Below is a recipe for a special Ghanaian Christmas treat:

Bananas Ghana

8 bananas
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons apricot brandy (or use 3 more tablespoons of orange juice)
4 tablespoons shredded coconut and/or groundnuts (peanuts)
4 ounces sour cream, with 1 tablespoon brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut 8 medium bananas lengthwise and then in half.
Combine 1/4 cup of sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon in a shallow bowl. 
Coat banana pieces in cinnamon sugar. 
Place coated pieces cut side down in a 9 inch ovenproof dish. 
Mix orange juice and brandy together and pour over the bananas.
Bake 20 minutes, periodically basting the bananas with the juice.
Remove bananas from oven and sprinkle 4 tbsp coconut and/or peanuts on top.
Dish up and SERVE PIPING HOT!
Optional: Blend together 4 oz. sour cream and 1 tbsp brown sugar (sweetened sour cream), serve as garnish on side.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas, or as it would be said in just a few of the 100 languages spoken in Ghana: “Afehya Pa” (Akan); “Brunya Name” (Ewe); “Burinya Tami” (Siwu, the language spoken by not more than 100,000 people, including Point Hope Ghana’s National Director, Chris Amuzu-Addo).

May your Christmas be filled with deep thankfulness for each blessing you have! To learn how about how you can help build a village and a forever family home for these children, please visit PointHope.org.