Strawberry Chocolate Popsicles

Ok, foodbloggers. Has this situation ever happened to anyone else?

You think of a quick little project that might make a good post. Say something simple, like popsicles. After you've dreamed up the concept, you then guesstimate that the project will take 10 minutes to complete. Then, smack in the middle of said "quick" project, everything goes south. Instead of taking 10 minutes, it's taking 40 minutes and you're late for another event because the darn project was not supposed to take that long?

Yeah. That was these popsicles. 

Here's what happened:

I incorrectly thought I could just make this Nutella/Milk mixture, throw some sliced strawberries in, freeze for 10 minutes, and then insert the popsicles sticks. After that, they would only need to freeze and I would be done. These popsicles do not work like that. I made the mixture, placed the strawberries ever so carefully in the molds, and then put them in the freezer. I set the timer for 10 minutes, expecting to come back to something slightly slushy. Or at least something slushy enough that an inserted popsicle stick would stay in place.

Ummmmmm, no.

The strawberries had all floated to the top of the mold, and the popsicle stick kept bobbing around like a buoy on the ocean. 'What the %$#*&' I thought to myself as I set the timer for another 10 minutes. I thought another 10 would help the popsicles get to the point where the strawberries and the stick would stay in place. Still, no. Another 10 went on the clock. Then another. 40 minutes later, I was beyond peeved, running late, and still nowhere with the popsicles. Curse words flying, I irritably put the molds in the fridge to deal with when I got home. 

Luckily, when I returned home after my errands,  I had calmed and was ready to try again.

This time, I put the molds in the freezer and set the timer for 50 minutes. After 50 minutes, I came back to the molds and the Nutella/Milk mixture was finally slushy enough I could move the strawberries down deeper into the molds and the popsicle stick stayed in place when inserted. Back into the freezer they went, till the next day.

After all the trouble, I was really wanting to hate these popsicles.

I wanted them to taste horrible so I could pitch them and swear off the troublesome project.

It did not work out that way. 

These were one of the best popsicles I've ever made. Second only to my Raspberry Mint Ice Pops. 

First of all, the chocolate base makes these reminiscent of a fudgesicle. I say reminiscent and that's probably the wrong word. These taste exactly like fudgesicles. Only better because of the strawberries. The strawberries, when combined with the milk mixture, start to taste like Strawberry Quik in a fudgesicle. 

They are so.darn.good. You have to try them. Now that I've done all the hard work of figuring out the best technique, you won't be making the same mistakes I did and this can just be a delicious project. Instead of a frustrating one.

Just trust me. Make these.

A quick update on Gizmo before I take off- Gizmo did indeed have a little cold. An upper respiratory infection. The vet thought it was a good possibility that the puppy brought it home from the shelter. I tend to agree since Mariota had what I thought were pretty bad allergies his first couple of days here. The vet said since Mariota is a puppy, he probably developed antibodies to fight it off on his own. Gizmo has never been sick though and has no antibodies, which is likely why he caught it. I was surprised Haloti hadn't caught it too, but the vet mentioned that it's possible Haloti didn't catch it because he had his own respiratory infection when he was much younger. I think Haloti wasn't even a year old when he caught that cold. The vet said Haloti likely developed antibodies at that time, and that's why he didn't catch it. 

Fascinating.

Anyhoo, Gizmo was sent home with some antibiotics and some cough suppressants. Hopefully, he'll be back to normal in no time. If this plays out like Haloti's did many years ago, we'll be just fine :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Ingredients (makes 6 popsicles):

1 1/2 cups almond milk

1/2 cup chocolate hazelnut spread (Nutella)

1/2 cup strawberries, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. Combine milk and hazelnut spread in a blender. Blend until smooth.

2. Pour milk mixture into popsicle molds, filling 3/4 full. 

3. Drop a couple slices of strawberries in each mold (5-6). Put molds in the freezer, and set a timer for 50 minutes.

4. After 50 minutes, remove mold from freezer. Using a butter knife, push strawberries down into the mold. Push them up against the sides if you want to see them in the final product. After placing strawberries, insert a popsicle stick in the middle. Place pops back in the freezer, and freeze overnight. 

5. Run frozen popsicle molds under hot water until they pop out of the mold. Store in a ziplock bag in the freezer for up to 1 month.  

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from Carmel Moments.

Looking for other homemade popsicle recipes? Try these!

Strawberry Orange Popsicles

Nectarine Yogurt Pops

Watermelon Kiwi Ice Pops

Linked to: Thank Goodness It's Thursday, Create It Thursday, Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party, Snickerdoodle Sunday