Park Day Treats

Last week I got together with some friends at a park day/potluck lunch. (LOVE those!) I offered to bring a treat, and because I've been buying berries by the bushel to satisfy Sophie's ginormous appetite for them, I decided to make these cream pops that I saw on my cousin Lorraine's blog back in February (she lives in Texas). These little pops are brilliant! We loved them!

I wasn't a very adventurous mom. I saw the popcicle melting down Sophie's arm, so I chopped it up, put it in a bowl and let her finish it with a spoon. I know, I know. I'll loosen up eventually.

I think berry puree is gorgeous. Especially swirled with cream. The color just POPS. Ha.

The original recipe was "Raspberry Cream Pops", but I made some blackberry ones, too, and decided they'd be fantastic with any type of berry. So I changed the name, like I tend to do. I also took note of Lorraine's comment about the 5-oz cups making a pretty big serving for her toddlers, and I used the 3-oz "bathroom" cups. The cups weren't waxed, but luckily the pops came out just fine. So instead of eight, I ended up with a dozen.

I needed to do two dozen of these, only had enough room in my freezer for one dozen at a time but didn't want to be up until 4 AM, so I only froze the layers until they were just icy enough to add the next one (about 45 minutes). It still worked out, but as you can see . . . my layers sorta bled into each other and the sticks didn't stay exactly in the mid-- OK, I know. I'll stop.

Have a great week ladies! Keep cool :)

(Any)Berry Cream Pops
from Lorraine Starks

1 pint berries (about 12 oz)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup water
1/2 cup cream (heavy or light)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup vanilla yogurt
8 5-ounce waxy paper cups or 12 3-oz bathroom cups
popsicle sticks

In a blender, puree 3/4 of the pint of berries with the sugar and water, then strain out the seeds (this should yield about 2 cups of pulp).

Transfer 2/3 cup of the berry puree into a separate container, add the cream, and whisk well to mix. Then, stir the lemon juice into the remaining 1/3 of the berry puree. Now, you should have two containers of berry sauce -- one that's deep in color and another that's creamy. Chill both sauces.

In a bowl, stir together the vanilla yogurt and the remaining whole berries. Pour the mixture into the paper cups until they are about half full. Set the cups in an 8- by 8-inch pan (for transferring them easily in and out of the freezer). Line up the cups into a rectangle/square shape and put a layer of foil over the cups OR cover each individual cup with foil. Poke a popsicle stick straight through the center of each cup, through the foil and into the mixture. (It helps to use a sharp knife to start the holes so the foil doesn't rip too badly.) Freeze until set (about 2 hours).

Remove the foil and pour a layer of the brightly colored puree on top of the frozen yogurt. Freeze again until solid (about 2 hours). Finally, pour a layer of the berry cream mixture into each cup and freeze until solid. To serve, peel the cups away from the pops. Makes 8 large or 12 small pops.

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Originally posted here.