Creamy Cherry Popsicles

It's summertime...summer means lots of fresh, homemade popsicles in our house!  Now, I'm not opposed to eating store bought popsicles from time to time, but when I know what exactly is in the popsicles that our kids are eating, they are more likely to get the homemade ones as treats.  Especially when they sometimes are like a smoothie on a stick!

We had some overripe cherries on our hands, and I needed to use them up stat.  I also needed to make a new batch of popsicles, so naturally I decided to make cherry popsicles.  Took a look in the fridge to see what else there was, and I had some Greek yogurt that needed using as well.  Time to marry those two to give some Creamy Cherry Popsicles a try!  Here is what I did:

3/4 cup cherries (pitted, pureed and strained)
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3/4 cup yogurt (for this batch I used all Greek yogurt)
1/4 cup milk

Pit, puree and strain the cherries.  In your food processor or bullet, combine the cherry puree, honey, lmeon juice, yogurt and milk.  Pour into popsicle moulds and freeze.

VERDICT:
These are a nice creamy treat.  Though I am not a honey fan, I thought I would give in the recipe it a try for my family.  Turns out the oldest isn't a honey fan either.  The honey flavour was a little overwhleming at first, but either the honey had settled into the top of the popsicle and we got it all at once, or we got used to the honey after a few minutes because it wasn't as noticeable.  I will go with a cherry popsicle again, but I think I will ease back or eliminate the honey and maybe add in some vanilla yogurt for a little something different!  Creamy popsicles are a hit though!

Creamsicles

Last month I wrote a blog post for One Artsy Mama as part of her Fun in the Sun Summer Series. I wanted to make sure that you didn't miss out on this great summertime treat, so I am sharing it here on my blog today! Enjoy!

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We are huge ice cream fans in our house. And popsicles. And really anything that will cool us off during our hot hot summers! I love to make my own popsicles for the family, and lately I've been craving creamsicles...but have you noticed that they just don't taste the same as they did when we were kids? So I spent a little time on Pinterest and I found a lovely little recipe over at Mrs. Happy Homemaker that I pinned.

Here is my version of the recipe:

Homemade Creamsicles

2 cups of orange juice (fresh squeezed...by my husband!) - I even included some chunks of orange, just because I wanted to!
1/3 cup honey
2 cups of heavy cream
2 cups of milk
1 tablespoon of vanilla

Squeeze/juice the oranges.

In a saucepan over medium, mix the orange juice and honey. Cook until it is reduced by half, approximately 15 minutes.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the cream, milk, and vanilla.

Combine the reduced orange/honey mixture into the cream/milk/vanilla mixture. Mix well. Pour into popsicle molds. Freeze until set.

VERDICT:

I made these creamsicles while our oldest son was away camping, so he missed the "first try"...we couldnt wait...sorry bud! These were so creamy and so tasty. The orange flavour wasn't overwhelming, it was subtle and nice. I wondered about adding some orange zest into the mix to amp up the orange flavour. The original recipe called for orange extract, but I don't have any so I skipped that part. My husband and I both agree that this would be awesome with raspberries too...I will be making those next time! When our oldest came back from camping we gave him one to try, and he just loved it. he follows in our footsteps with a love for ice cream and popsicles. I forsee me making these again!