Homemade Fudgesicles

Ok, I'll admit to jumping on the popsicle bandwagon this summer. After pinning yummy popsicle recipes for months, I finally bought these Norpro molds. I love them for their classic shape and use of wooden sticks. I don't know about you, but whenever I've bought molds with reusable plastic holders, they have all disappeared by the time I'm ready to make a second batch.

I think store bought Fudgesicles are pretty delicious, but I'm always up for trying to improve on the original (especially when they are full of artificial ingredients that I can't pronounce!). I started with this recipe and just made a couple of little changes. I had some amazing Valrhona milk chocolate on hand, but you could easily substitute with semi-sweet or dark chocolate. I couldn't have been happier with the results - they were so smooth, rich and super chocolatey - the perfect summer treat!

Homemade Fudgesicles

1/2 cup high-quality milk chocolate
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
5 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
16 wooden popsicle sticks
1.  Chop the chocolate into small pieces and melt over a double boiler.
2.  Combine the melted chocolate, sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and milk in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until slightly thickened, approximately 10 minutes. Remove from heat and strain through a fine mesh strainer. Stir in the vanilla.
3. Cool the mixture to room temperature then pour into 16 popsicle molds. Freeze for 1 hour and then insert sticks. Freeze overnight for best results.

To unmold: Have a chilled container ready to put your popsicles in. Fill a bowl with boiling water the depth of the mold. Place the mold in the water and let sit for a couple seconds. Working as quickly as possible, wiggle the sticks and pull out the popsicles. If they seem to be melting too much, refreeze until hard and try again.

Recipe adapted from: The Brown Eyed Baker