Day 152 — Cookie Dough Ice Pops

You know that old saying “when you have a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail”? Well, now that I have a Zoku, everything starts looking like an ice pop idea.

Case in point: I made cookies tonight. I was spooning the dough onto baking sheets while trying to think of a pop idea for tonight, when I looked down and realized I had a perfect idea in my hands. So:

Basic vanilla ice pop ingredients (with whipping cream still standing in for the half and half I still haven’t gotten around to buying), plus a big dollop of cookie dough.

This is pretty much basic chocolate cookie dough, with a few modifications (I used a combination of oat flour and whole wheat flour. I figure that cancels out the sugar and butter). Now, I should admit that I’m committing a culinary crime here. My cookie dough contains raw egg. I probably wouldn’t serve this to my kids, but I figured it was worth the risk for myself.

Anyway, I chilled the dough while the cookies baked, so it would be firm enough to roll into tiny balls. Then I dropped those balls in as I poured the vanilla base.

Mmm, this pop was good. Tasted just like cookie dough ice cream (who’da thunk?) The whole-grain flours did make the texture of the dough a little grainy, so if I were to make this pop again, I’d try to use a dough made with the regular stuff. But still, a fun and easy (if a teensy bit dangerous) to use cookie dough.

Day 141 — Chocolate Oreo Ice Pops

Today’s pop was inspired by Rachel’s comment on yesterday’s post. I really needed a good pop today after three straight days of duds, and she suggested chocolate pudding with mint and Oreos. It sounds terrific, and I have every intention of making that specific pop someday soon, but in the meantime, I couldn’t stop thinking about Oreos. So I decided to do a twist on Rachel’s idea and throw Oreos into my chocolate ice pop base recipe.

I crushed up two Oreos to make three ice pops, and made the pops by alternating small layers of the base with generous sprinkles of cookie pieces. You can clearly see the layers in the finished pops:

These were every bit as delicious as you’d expect them to be. Because the pops froze so quickly, the cookies stayed really crispy so the popsicle had great texture. And, of course, the combination of the two chocolate flavors was perfect. I’m glad I made three of these (and that the kids are asleep and can’t claim their share).

Day 131 — Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Pops

I’m still having a minor love affair with the Cookie Butter I bought from Trader Joe’s a little while back, so today I decided to experiment with variations on the plain cookie butter ice pop:

See? I added a splash of vanilla and a handful of chocolate chips. That makes a totally different pop.

I wanted to play on that cooked-sugar taste of the cookie butter, which is similar to the brown sugar flavor found in a chocolate chip cookie, but more pronounced. I thought adding some vanilla might soften the flavor and bring it a little closer to tasting like a chocolate chip cookie. Though the difference in the finished product was subtle, I really do think it was there.

You can’t seem them, but there are lots and lots of chocolate chips in here. I’d say at least 15 of them.

I can’t honestly say these popsicles tasted exactly like a chocolate chip cookie (I think that texture is actually a huge component in a cookie’s appeal), but they were close. At the very least, they closely resembled store-bought cookie dough. So, well worth the time and effort.

Day 124 — Cookie Butter Ice Pops

I made my monthly pilgrimage to Trader Joe’s the other day, and came across a huge display of “Cookie Butter.” Actually, there were several displays — my TJs is pushing the stuff hard. Anyway, if you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that my ears perk up any time I see something new. I had to investigate.

So, this stuff. It’s like peanut butter, if peanut butter was made from ground-up nutter butters and was totally devoid of nutritional merit. I mean it — it’s a spread/dip made from ground-up cookies.  It makes Nutella look as nutritious at Nutella commercials would like us all to believe it is.  It’s absolutely horrific, from a dietary point of view.

It’s kind of a shame that it’s this delicious.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.  Again, ground-up cookies.  It had a pretty good chance at being yummy.  The predominant flavor is of caramelized sugar (is that redundant?), nice and toasty.  The texture is silky smooth, but with tiny grains of cookie throughout.  It’s so good that two days after I bought it, somehow almost a third of the jar is gone.  I figured I’d better go ahead and pop-ify it soon before I managed to eat the rest of the jar:

I strongly advice against reading the nutritional information and/or the ingredients list. Trust me, you’ll be happier not knowing.

 

As usual when I play with a new ingredient, I was cautious with regard to the proportion of milk to the creamy ingredient. I ended up using a generous teaspoon of the spread and about 1.5 ounces of milk (I eyeballed it, and ended up with enough for one pop and a little bit leftover.

This pop was as delicious as I expected, though not in the same way that I’d expected, if that makes any sense.  I had thought the taste of the cookie would shine through, and it dd to a certain extent.  But the milk really takes the intensity down several notches.  But the texture and the flavor were spot on.  I think this is the closest I have ever come to making a pop that truly tastes like ice cream.  It was nice and creamy, with a non-overwhelming flavor.  It was a pretty terrific treat to end a long, hot day.

Day 66 — Oreo Celebration Ice Pops

Did y’all know that today is the Oreo cookie’s 100th birthday? Well, it is, and even though I have already made a cookies & cream ice pop, I couldn’t let this momentous occasion pass without commemorating it. So:

Leftover vanilla pudding, Birthday Cake Oreos, milk to thin out the pudding.

In related news, I got a really fun delivery last week:

This books is full of all sorts of fun ideas, many of which I am way too lazy to execute on my own (their chocolate base recipe calls for actual cooking, and you all know how I feel about that level of ice pop premeditation). But I did get an idea for today’s pop from the book. Zoku’s Cookies & Cream Pop recipe calls for sticking an entire cookie (well, half a cookie, you need to twist them apart because the whole cookie is too thick) to the side of the mold before pouring the base. So that’s what I did. It made for a really striking looking pop:

I didn’t add any additional cookie pieces to the pops, because the cookies were actually there more for the visual than to be a flavor. But I love the way that these pops turned out. The cookies remained so clear, despite the fact that I dipped them into my pudding base to make sure they’d stick to the molds. And, of course, they tasted great. A fitting tribute for a classic dessert.

Day 60 — S’mores Ice Pops

My husband suggested a few days ago that I make a s’mores pop:

Milk, cream, Ovaltine, marshmallows, graham crackers

For this pop, I went with the basic chocolate ice pop recipe. Rather than try to mix in the marshmallows, I cut them in half and used a knife to stick the pieces directly to the sides of the Zoku’s molds. I had to dot a little of the base onto each one to make them stay.

I have a confession — although my ingredient shot shows graham crackers, I actually used girl scout cookies in these pops because it turned out that my graham crackers had gone stale. I crushed them into large-ish pieces rather than crumbs, because I wanted them really to stand out. I layered them in as I poured the base.

These pops turned out really cute. They tasted good, too. I don’t normally like marshmallow unless they’re either gluing rice krispies together or are well toasted, but they turn out nice in the Zoku. They become a lot less mushy when they freeze.

Overall, this pop was a hit. Well worth a try.

Day 54 — Cookies & Cream Ice Pops

A while back, I made Oreo cheesecake pops, but I hadn’t actually ever made just a straight cookies & cream ice pop. That changes today:

No ingredients shot today, sorry. I just mixed the basic vanilla ingredients with crushed Oreos. The resulting pop was, of course, delicious. There’s a reason why cookies & cream ice cream is a perpetual favorite.

Sorry for the short post today — I spent a sleepless night, and can barely muster the energy to type. I hope to be back with more verve tomorrow.

Day 42 — Cookie Dough Ice Pop

We’re still on sweet overload over here. My daughter’s birthday party was this morning, so of course there was more cake, plus an assortment of sweet dips I found on Pinterest.

Today’s pop uses my favorite of those dips, a chocolate cookie dough dip with I think was one of the first things I ever pinned. I made the recipe as pinned once, but since then have adjusted it to meet my tastes:

Re-enactment. The part of heath bits is being played by non-chocolate brickle bits.

To make a whole batch of this dip, I use:

1 8-oz package of cream cheese (light is fine)
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup each of brown sugar and powdered sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1 bag (1 1/3) cups of heath bar bits (the original recipe calls for chocolate chips and brickle bits, but I found actual Heath bar bits with chocolate in them, and use those instead now).
Cream the butter with the cream cheese, then beat in the sugars and vanilla and stir in the candy. Then enjoy!

Anyway, since I love this dip so much I decided to see if it would translate well into an ice pop.  For one pop, I mixed one heaping tablespoon of dip with milk until it was thin enough to pour.

Oh lord.  These pops were soooo much better than I’d expected them to be.  I mean, I love the dip, but freezing it turned out incredibly well.  The milk diluted the intense sweetness of the dip just enough, while the cream cheese and butter gave it an amazing ice cream consistency.  I’m a little sorry now that I only made one pop.

 

Day 35 — “Inside Out” Cookies & Cream Ice Pops

Aside from ice pops, I am trying really hard to limit my sweets these days.  When I’m newly(ish) postpartum, it’s all too easy for me to snack on chocolate all day long.  That’s not good for me or the baby, so I’ve stopped buying chocolate.  As a result, all week I have been craving chocolate and heading to the pantry, only to find an empty corner where I usually keep my stash. And thought it’s intentionally empty, the fact that I don’t have any chocolate has been making me grouchy.

Tonight was particularly bad, so I made a chocolate ice pop in the hope that it would satisfy my craving. As usual, I wanted to make it a little interesting, so I enlisted my friends the Girl Scouts:

Does anyone know when/why they stopped calling these cookies "Trefoils?"

Making the pop was simple — about 1.5 ounces of pudding, .5 ounce of milk to thin it out for pouring, and one crushed-up trefoil. I only made one pop because (a) I suspect that my 3-year-old threw out one of my pop sticks, and (b) I currently have a backlog of uneaten pops in the freezer, leaving me with just one clean stick.

I can't figure out how I managed to make a lopsided pop.

The pop was delicious, but it did nothing to satisfy my chocolate craving. This particular craving is as much about texture as it is flavor, and even the best ice pop can’t replicate the mouthfeel of chocolate. Still, the pop was chocolatey, with a nice balance of creamy vs. crunchy. Plus, it left me too full to contemplate ransacking the pantry in the hopes that I’ll find a stray Halloween candy (preferably from 2011, but I’m not fancy.  Any year will do).  So I’m calling it a success.

Day 27 — Oreo Cheesecake Ice Pops

Cookies and cream is one of those classic flavors that’s a natural for ice pops. Frankly, the only reason I haven’t made them long before this is that I kept forgetting to buy Oreos.

I finally remembered to buy Oreos yesterday, so today was the day to give them a spin. I didn’t make plain cookies & cream, though — that will have to be another day. Instead, I used the leftover cheesecake pudding from the other day, thinned out with milk.

These pops were nice. I think a regular vanilla cream base would be better, and I’m looking forward to trying that out.