I started a list at the beginning of June titled “Summer Baking Projects”. It looked like this:

1. S’mores Pie

2. Peach Hand Pies

3. Popsicles

Not much of a list, but during the final weekend of August, I realized I hadn’t made any of these things. I came close with the S’mores Brownies, but didn’t quite find the time or occasion for the pie. Danielle advised against the hand pies; she said they were a whole lot of work and time in the kitchen, and the result isn’t the best. Basically you are trying to make mini-hand held pies, but she said because they’re so small, you get a very high crust-to-filling ratio, which is not really ideal. So instead I made that Peach Crumble Pie which was awesome.

So that brings us to homemade popsicles, which I was talking about all summer. So much so that my co-worker Kim picked me up some old-school Tupperware popsicle molds she saw at a garage sale, and Kristine got me a set of star-shaped ones she found at Winners. I briefly contemplated going the raspberry-yogurt route as seen on Orangette, but then I remembered this Mocha Fudgesicle recipe in the back of my Baked cookbook. And since you can really only serve frozen desserts at home, these were a perfect treat for my post-Superbowl Emmy feast.

Mocha Fudgesicles

Source: Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito

Ingredients:

1 tbsp butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tbsp instant espresso powder

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 egg

1/4 whipping cream

2 3/4 whole milk (I used 2%)

Directions:

  1. Put butter in a large heatproof bowl and set aside.
  2. In a large saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, flour and cornstarch. Add the egg and cream and whisk until combined.
  3. Place the saucepan over medium heat and slowly pour in the milk, whisking constantly. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil, whisking occasionally. After the mixture boils, continue to cook, whisking for another 2 minutes.
  4. Remove from the heat and pour the mixture over the butter. Whisk vigorously for 1 minute to cool slightly. Let the mixture cool for 15 minutes, whisk vigorously for 1 minute, then pour into popsicle molds. Freeze until hard, about 6 hours.
  5. Release the fudgesicles from the mold by quickly running some hot water along the plastic surface of the molds, and carefully pull the pops out of the mold.