banana vanilla popsicles

Inspired by a recipe from Locopops, in Durham NC, where our friend Sara used to work. However, they make theirs classier.

One box instant vanilla pudding (see what I mean about classier?)
1.25 cups milk
3/4 cup cream
one ripe banana, mushed
about 1/2 cup crushed vanilla wafers

Make the instant pudding with the cream and milk, beating for about a minute and a half, then adding the banana and beating for another half minute. Add the vanilla wafers and just beat enough to mix them in evenly. Put into popsicle forms and freeze (it's super lumpy, so do this fast, and use something like chopsticks to help get air bubbles out).

Next time I might use a banana and a half, and more vanilla wafers. The vanilla pudding is a shortcut--we should be making this with heavy cream and some vanilla and sugar. The problem I have is that our popsicles almost always come out too grainy--with large ice crystals. For cream ones, instant pudding helps a lot. For juice ones, I haven't found a solution. I think the problem is that they freeze slowly--the lovely Locopops ones don't have this problem at all and I think they must be frozen in a colder freezer. I have yet to stoop to the point of taking the popsicle mold to work to make them in the -80, though.

Fudgesicles

I was looking for recipes online to make use of our new popsicle molds. The easiest option is to make pudding pops with instant pudding. My first attempt was a homemade fudgesicle recipe from Alton Brown. I altered it slightly (forgetting the vanilla), so my recipe was:

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
2 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
12 ounces (1 1/2 cups) heavy cream
8 ounces (1 cup) milk
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

They are now freezing for 4 hours.