Nothing says kids and summer time like something frozen on a stick! Making home made popsicles totally makes me feel like a child again. I realize that if your kids are like mine and eat 27 popsicles a day that the most economical thing to do is head to Costco and buy a box of otter pops, but take a break every once and a while and have some fun creating your own flavor combos in homemade popsicles. There’s something magical about it! Kids love helping out and these recipes are so quick and easy that you won’t mind extra “helpers.”
You can pick up all kinds of shapes and sizes of molds just about anywhere these days. The ones in this picture are from Target and Walmart. They’re only a couple of bucks too. Totally worth the tiny investment! You can use the plastic sticks they come with, or just buy a bag of popsicle sticks and then you can make multiple batches.
I started thinking about pudding pops about a month ago and I couldn’t stop dreaming about different flavor combos that sounded good. I kept a list on my fridge and kept adding to it thinking I’d just try out as many as I could and then post the best one. Problem: they were ALL good! So since my family has had pudding pops coming out of their ears for the last month, you all will as well. I’m going to share all of them with ya! First of all, read this:
Notes on dairy:
I tested a lot of different dairy combos from non-fat milk to low-fat to whole milk to heavy cream. You can choose what you put into these. Just know that the higher the fat percentage the creamier the end product. Don’t go up to full cream though, that doesn’t work so well. My most favorite result was half and half so that’s what I wrote in most of the actual recipes. You can absolutely substitute low-fat milk (or even soy milk if you’ve got allergy issues), it just makes the pops a little icier whereas the half and half obviously makes them richer and more creamy. Also, I used the sugar free puddings, and Jello brand definitely tastes the best.
Are you ready for this?? Here we go! (The first one is totally my favorite)
Mint-Chocolate Cookie Pudding Pops
1 small box instant chocolate pudding
1 3/4 C half and half
10 Oreo cookies, crushed (about 1 heaping cup)
1/4 t peppermint extract
Blend pudding mix, extract, and half and half in a blender until smooth. Stir in crushed cookies by hand. Place in molds and freeze.
* I loved Aubri’s idea in the comments- try banana pudding with crushed nutter butters. Yum!!
Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Pudding Pops
1 small box cheesecake instant pudding
1 3/4 C half and half
1 C blueberries
1 t lemon zest (or more if you like your lemon!)
In a blender mix cheesecake pudding mix and half and half until smooth. Add in lemon zest and blueberries and pulse a couple of times to break up the blueberries. Place in molds and freeze.
Cherry Almond Fudge Pudding Pops
1 small box instant Chocolate Fudge Pudding
1 3/4 C half and half
about 20 cherries ( 1 1/4 C) pitted and halved
1/4 t almond extract
1/3 C mini-chocolate chips
Blend pudding mix, half and half, and almond extract in blender until smooth. Add in cherries and pulse 2-3 times. Stir in chocolate chips by hand. Place in molds and freeze.
Piña Colada Pudding Pops
1 small box instant coconut pudding
1 13.5oz can coconut milk
1 8oz can crushed pineapple
1/3 C shredded coconut
1 T fresh lime juice
optional: coconut extract*
Blend coconut milk, lime juice, and pudding mix in a blender until smooth. Add crushed pineapple and shredded coconut and pulse a couple of times to incorporate. Add extract if desired. Place in molds and freeze. * the coconut flavor was more mild than I expected. If you want a boost, add a little coconut extract.
These might be my 2nd favorite!
PB Banana Pudding Pops
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
1 3/4 C milk
1 ripe banana*
1/4 C Peanut Butter
Blend all ingredients until smooth. Place in popsicle molds and freeze. *Bananas that aren’t quite ripe yet tend to taste especially bitter when frozen, so make sure you use a sweet, ripe, banana.
Strawberries and Cream Pudding Pops
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
1 C milk
6oz vanilla yogurt (strawberry is great too)
12 medium strawberries (about 1 3/4-2 C roughly chopped)
2-3 T sugar
remove stems from berries and pulse with 2 T sugar in a food processor until completely smooth. Taste and add more sugar if needed. You should have just over a cup of puree. Set aside.
In a blender combine pudding, yogurt, and milk and blend until combined. Layer or swirl the pudding mixture with the strawberry mixture in popsicle molds and freeze until solid.
Other
Posts from Kids Week:
Hand-Tossed Ice Cream
Edible Playdough and Finger Paint
Homemade Hot Pockets
Giveaway
Questions & Reviews
What great looking recipes! We made some this week! I’m featuring you as a favorite find for the week on my blog! Check it out at
http://copy-cat-crafter.blogspot.com/2011/06/five-favorite-finds.html
~*Jessica Lauren
Question: In your cookbook it says to use a 1 oz. box of pudding, but the small boxes are 3.4 oz. so I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to use the whole box or not? These are great and I can’t wait to make them with my kiddos! Thanks for your help in advance. 🙂
Its’ a little confusing Kristina, because we’re talking about sugar free pudding, which is 1 oz. Regular pudding is 3.4 oz. They both work fine, so as long as you’re using the small, 4 serving box, you’re good!
Lol, sometimes they can be tricky! I just run them under hot water and keep wiggling!
Seriously, can someone tell me how the popsicles in those pictures came out so beautifully. Mine wont leave the mold. 🙁 HELP!
So far we’ve tried the mint chocolate cookie pops, strawberries and cream, and PB banana! Yum! Although the PB banana was definitely not as big a hit with my crowd. I also like your strawberry watermelon ice pops. Thanks for the recipes! 🙂
My daughter, my cousin’s little girl and I made the Chocolate-mint cookie bars Tuesday night, then we enjoyed them after dinner last night. THEY WERE AMAZING!! I can’t wait to try another flavor, we might have to buy more molds! (Although shot glasses with sticks are the perfect size for my almost 5 yr old!)
YUM!!! I have made the blueberry and the strawberry recipes with my daughter and they are easy and delicious. Thanks so much!
Pudding popsicles: why is it necessary to add the sugar? Is it to just sweeten the strawberries? Or is it used for the freezing process. Thank you
Both Joann, but if you wanted to leave it out, you certainly could.
Do you think fat-free half and half would work as well as the regular half-and-half, or would it make the popsicles icier like low-fat milk would?
Just tried it…fat-free half-and-half makes great pudding pops, but I’ll probably try the regular stuff next time to compare. I’ve already made the chocolate-mint-oreo pops AND the strawberries and cream pops! I also used the recipe as an inspiration to make cookies and cream pops using vanilla pudding (http://prettyladydesigns.blogspot.com/2011/04/in-kitchen-cookies-n-cream-pudding-pops.html). I linked back to this site to give you the credit. Thanks so much for sharing this! My hubby misses the jell-o pudding pops so he appreciates it too. :o)
Just made the strawberries and cream…yum! But I have to ask, how do you get them to come out of the molds so perfectly? I can’t do it to save my life!
Heather, I just run them under warm water- but only really quickly. I think some people do it too much and then they end up melting!
That is what I did…maybe I did it too long though, thanks! (It could just be me!)