Easy Fudge Popsicles– no refined sugar and gluten free

Fun and summery, fudge popsicles can actually be pretty healthy! Made with no refined sugar, cultured (or fresh) dairy, and nothing artificial, these delicious, healthy fudgesicle -like treats are cold, creamy, and easy to make. Instructions for dairy free are included.

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For kids, yummy popsicles are such a fun summer treat! What about fudge popsicles? Well, that is a treat for both the kids and the kids-at-heart! Cold, creamy, and chocolatey, these fudgesicle -like treats are a summer delight!

What if they could also be (reasonably) good for you? That is possible, and even easy, to achieve! You can make these all summer long and feel good about serving them as dessert or even a snack.

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Why you will love fudge popsicles:

Well, let’s start with the most important part– they are so tasty! Sweet, but not overly sweet (unless you want them to be), chocolatey, cold and creamy, you will enjoy the taste. So will the kids in your life!

Secondly, this fudge popsicle recipe is easy and fast to prepare. If, like me, you usually have these few staple ingredients on hand, you can get them in the freezer in a few minutes. Since you are probably starting with cold ingredients, they will freeze fast!

Third, you can use healthy ingredients, tweaking to suit your goals, tastes, and dietary needs. With no sugar, and a modest amount of raw honey, even the sweetener is working for your health! If you use cultured cream, milk, or both, you can stack probiotic benefits as well.

Not familiar with cultured dairy? It is simple to make your own and much better for you than wimpy, store-bought versions.

• cultured cream
• kefir
• instant pot yogurt

Fourth, if you are a person who likes to hide health-boosting ingredients in otherwise decadent-seeming recipes, you could probably do that…

Was it sneaky?

In fact, that is how I came up with this particular treat. I’m not very big on hiding things in treats, but I’m also not entirely above it. I am more inclined to openly disguise things. They know it’s there, but they like the thing, anyway.

When we started the GAPS diet, one person did not enjoy cultured dairy in any form. And still mostly doesn’t. Said person does, however, love ice cream, including ice cream made with cultured dairy. So, I made vanilla popsicles for a dose of cultured dairy. They were a hit!

So these are GAPS friendly?!

Sadly, no. The chocolate is the problem. Chocolate is not a GAPS food. I know, there are lots of “GAPS recipes” with loads of chocolate floating around. They aren’t GAPS friendly because of the chocolate. However, very advanced GAPSters sometimes use a little chocolate now and then.

We weren’t purists about this. You need to make up your own mind and do what seems to work for you. If you don’t feel well after eating chocolate, don’t have it! If you do well with some chocolate, this is a pretty good recipe for you, since it uses only a little per serving. Choose a high quality one!

If you just can’t do chocolate, and aren’t on GAPS, you could try carob. That isn’t GAPS-approved, though. You can also leave the chocolate out and have perfectly good vanilla bars. (We started with vanilla, as it happens.) Reduce the honey in that case, since you won’t need as much without the bitter chocolate.

You could even skip the chocolate and add a different flavor– fruit, peanut butter, peppermint, etc.

How to Make Fudge Popsicles

The Molds

You will need some sort of popsicle mold. Whatever you have will work fine! I have used plastic ones in the past. As they have slowly broken here and there, I replaced them with this silicone version, which has plastic sticks. If you wanted to completely avoid plastic and minimize silicone, something like this one or this one could work.

Not up for buying popsicle molds at the moment? Consider one of these ideas for making popsicles using what you already have!

Now, your popsicle molds may not be the same as mine. I currently make 10 popsicles. With my old plastic molds, I could do 6, or 12 if I filled both. Here is how to handle it if yours aren’t exactly like mine:

Fill one slot of the mold with water nearly to the top. Pour the water into a measuring cup to figure out how much each one holds. (Both my old plastic and current silicone molds hold 1/3 cup per popsicle, even though they look a lot different. Measure; don’t guess!)

Multiply the volume of one popsicle by the number of popsicles you can make. Then subtract about the amount of one popsicle; the cocoa powder and honey will take a bit of space, and the mixture gains some volume as you mix it and a little air incorporates.

That amount is the amount of dairy to measure out. I use half cream and half milk. (Keep reading for tweaks!) The cocoa plus honey will account for a little less than the volume of one popsicle. Calculate your dairy measurement as the total popsicles less one, to allow for the other ingredients and expansion of the mixture as you beat it.

The Mixture

Mix the kefir or milk, cocoa powder, honey, vanilla, and salt until very smooth. I like to use a Pyrex pitcher, as it is easy to pour from it into the molds. Add the cultured or fresh cream and mix just until smooth. Don’t over mix, especially with a blender; the cream will eventually turn to butter, and you do not want that to happen.

Taste and add more honey or cocoa powder to suit.

Pour the mixture into the molds, leaving a quarter to half inch of space at the top to allow for expansion during freezing. Add the sticks. Set in the freezer.

Tip: If you use a silicone mold, set it on a plate or something else that is rigid so the soft mold doesn’t shift around and spill. I use the tray from our toaster oven. Once frozen, you can remove the plate if you want.

The popsicles will need an hour or two to freeze firmly. If you started with very cold dairy, freezing will happen fast. The popsicles will freeze faster if your molds are flat shapes, and take a tad longer if they are more round.

Unmold according to the directions from the manufacturer and serve right away! Outside, if you can…

Alert regular readers may have noticed that this recipe is nearly identical to my cultured chocolate ice cream recipe. If you like, you can prepare a large batch of the ice cream, pour some of it into popsicle molds while it is still liquid-y, and process the rest in your ice cream maker. Treats for today and tomorrow!

Substitutions and Additions

You can make this basic recipe different ways. Here are some ideas:

• use all cultured dairy for maximum gut health benefits
• use all fresh dairy– milk and cream
• use a mix of fresh and cultured– I like cultured cream with fresh, raw milk
• use yogurt in place of kefir
• use coconut milk, with or without coconut cream
• increase the honey or chocolate– or use less– make it taste good to you
• replace the honey with something else– sugar, maple syrup, etc. Honey is sweeter, so taste and add a bit more if needed. Presumably, sugar substitutes could also work.
• add a second flavor– a half teaspoon of peppermint extract, a teaspoon of two of instant coffee, a couple teaspoons of cinnamon, a couple tablespoons of peanut butter, finely chopped berries or banana, etc.

What would you add to chocolate fudge popsicles?