Mint Fudgesicles

A new take on a summer classic just in time for the 4th of July – minted fudgesicles! Once again, these gems feature fresh herbs straight out of my garden. It’s so exciting to come up with good recipes to utilize all of those herbs from my weed patch!  If mint doesn’t float your boat, you could easily substitute for the mint syrup with a basic or vanilla simple syrup.  Besides having to wait a couple agonizing hours for the pops to freeze, this is a super simple and quick recipe to follow – for real, the hardest part is waiting!

Don’t tell my mom, but I used a metal whisk in the non-stick saucepan… oops!  You know what they say… Do as I say, not as I do!

I used the IKEA Chosigt ice pop molds.  I ran all over town looking for some basic popsicle molds, but half a tank of gas and 12 stores later, all I came up with were some ring-pop shaped ones.  Not what I was looking for.  So, I ended up borrowing these from my friend, Lew.  I thought that they worked great, and I really liked how they are separate so you don’t have to run them all under water to just get one or two out.

Mint Fudgesicles

Prep time: 20 min / Servings: 12, 2 oz popsicles

For the mint simple syrup:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped

For the fudgesicles:

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
• 2 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• Dash of salt

Start by making the mint simple syrup. Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. When boiling, place mint in a glass bowl and pour syrup over mint to steep. Cover with cling wrap, let steep until room temperature, and strain through a mesh sieve to remove mint leaves.

For the fudgesicles, whisk together milk and cornstarch in a medium sized saucepan.  Next, add in cream, simple syrup, cocoa powder, and salt.  Whisk often and bring to a boil over medium high heat.  Pour liquid into ice pop molds and freeze for a minimum of 4-6 hours.  To release fudgesicles, run warm water over molds.  Eat them quick before they melt!