Thursday, June 27, 2013

Vanilla Berry Frozen Yogurt Pops

Summertime. Otherwise known on our back deck as popsicle season. Icy treats go fast around here - like multiple times a day fast. I can't really blame the little blue-tongued bandits. Popsicles are awesome. They're nice to look at, fun to eat, sweet, cold, refreshing, satisfying, and thirst-quenching all in one cute little party of a package. The red, white, and blue ones scream 4th of July.

Of course the astronomical sugar content and food dyes in most grocery store brands leave something to be desired, but who needs them anyway? Assuming you have a freezer in the vicinity, homemade popsicles are just about the easiest thing in the world to make with kids. 
Fruit juices and purees, frozen bananas, lemonade, coconut milk and yogurt, preferably chunked up with plenty of fresh fruit, all make for amazing popsicles with less than half the parental guilt (as evidenced by my own personal and totally unscientific study) of grocery store brands. So go ahead. Embrace the stick this summer. Bonus points if you serve these red, white, and bluish frozen yogurt pops for the 4th of July.
We opted to use Stoneyfield Organic Greek Fat Free Yogurt but low fat or full fat plain Greek yogurt would work well too.
Despite what my little ham of a son would lead you to believe, Stoneyfield did not sponsor this post. I paid for my own yogurt fair and square, though I do admit to using a coupon to cover part of the cost of the Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Blue Agave we're going to talk about in a minute.
I like to use agave here rather than honey because of its thinner, runnier consistency. The agave swirls into the yogurt effortlessly for uniform sweetness throughout the pops. We used Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Blue Agave and pure vanilla extract since that's what I had on hand. If you are so inclined you could save yourself a step, skip the vanilla and use Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Vanilla Blue Agave Syrup instead of plain.
Vanilla Berry Frozen Yogurt Pops

16 ounces plain Greek yogurt
4-6 tbsp Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Blue Agave
2 tsp real vanilla extract
1&1/2 cups raspberries and/or blackberries, fresh or frozen

In a small bowl, stir together the yogurt and 2-3 tbsp of the agave, depending on how sweet you like your pops. At this point the yogurt should taste slightly sweeter than you want it. The flavor will mellow once it's frozen. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mash the berries with a fork. Stop when you still have some chunks of whole berry and plenty of bright, colorful juice. Stir in the remaining 2-3 tbsp agave.

In popsicle molds (or paper cups if you don't have popsicle molds) layer the yogurt and berry mixtures, starting and ending with yogurt. Use a chopstick or anything with a slim, long handle to gently swirl the yogurt and berries together in the mold. Insert the sticks and freeze for at least 4 hours and up to several days.

To release the pops from the mold, run them under cool to lukewarm water for about 30 seconds and gently wiggle out of the mold.

Makes 5 large pops.

Happy 4th!

4 comments:

  1. I don't think there is anything more amazing to see than children helping in the kitchen and then enjoying the fruits of their labor! My passions are my family, cooking and reading and when I can combine any of those, I'm elated. Those yogurt pops have my mouth watering and my son would go nuts over them, so I'm definitely going to try this recipe. I would love to recommend a book to you that a friend recommended to me. It's perfect for those who comibine cooking and family. It's called “Mofongo” by Cecilia Samartin, http://www.ceciliasamartin.com/. It was a great read. Thanks for the post and the recipe, I'm going to make these this weekend!

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    1. Thanks for the book recommendation, Marie! Mofongo sounds amazing and right up my alley too :) We were in Jamaica this past week on vacation and I wish I had picked it up in time for the beach/plane but I'll check it out soon enough. I hope you all enjoyed the yogurt pops. They've become a fixture in our freezer this summer.

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  2. Like this Vanilla Berry Frozen Yogurt Pops and the snaps you have shared. What can I say it look to me delicious one.

    Thanks for sharing.
    Best Frozen Yogurt | JosiesYogurt

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    1. Frozen yogurt is hard to beat, am I right? I was just perusing the Josie's Yogurt flavors and now I'm totally inspired to whip up another batch of pops. Tropical Banana or Polynesian Punch might help me work my way out of the vacation coma I'm recovering from. Thanks for stopping by!

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