By Lauren Rauh
It is ice cream and popsicle weather! Now, I know popsicles are so hot right now (see what I did there?), but for me, the convenience and fun of a cold treat on a stick usually lacks the satisfying creaminess of a bowl of ice cream. The happy medium and one of my personal favorite frozen goodies is the fudgsicle. Chocolately, creamy, and icy icy cold. Fudgsicles (the store bought ones) are also chock full of those long, hard to pronounce ingredients that just send alarms off in my head. On this sticky, muggy day I escaped to the grocery store for some air conditioned food shopping. In the frozen foods isle I had the beautiful thought, "what if I could make fudgsicles at home?" And like even the most profound thoughts in this information-rich, internet-saturated age, a million people had the thought before me. So I did a little research, bought myself a popsicle mold, and came up with this ridiculously simple, delightfully delicious recipe:
You will need:
8 oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup milk
1.5 cup cream
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized bowl. In a small sauce pan, combine the milk, cream and cocoa. Whisk the mixture over medium heat to dissolve the cocoa.
Heat to a simmer and pour the hot liquid into the bowl of chocolate. Let the bowl sit for two to three minutes, add the vanilla and then whisk the mixture until the chocolate is fully melted and the liquid is smooth.
Divide the fudgsicle mix into six popsicle molds.
Allow the pops to freeze for about three hours, remove from the molds, and enjoy!
Two Notes: I apologize for not having a photo of the finished product. While I was waiting for the pops to freeze, I forgot this important detail. By the time they were frozen my roommates and I were too overwhelmed with anticipation to realize the necessary photo op. Three pops were distroyed by premptive removal, and three were destroyed by ravenous mouths. Oops. In addition, when I make these pops again, I will add the step of blending the ingredients in a food processor or blender for a few minutes before pouring the liquid into the molds. I think this will eliminate any grainy residue from the melted chocolate. DO try this recipe at home, you will NOT be disappointed.