Cool Down this Summer with These Cherry Berry Cheesecake Popsicles
The Northwest cherry season is here at last! Where are my fellow cherry-lovers at? I don’t know about you, but summer is my favorite season for a variety of reasons – warm weather, longer days to be active and head outside after work and for fresh, vibrant and in-season fruits like cherries that are SUCH a treat. The Northwest cherry season is short – only roughly 2-months, which makes this tiny, tasty powerhouse fruit such a special delicacy during the warm summer season.
Summer in Wenatchee, Washington gets HOT so we are always trying to find creative ways to cool down. Of course, there are things like rivers and lakes in our beautiful backyard, but sometimes you just need a chilled treat to indulge in at home (and especially these days!) So, to make summertime at home just a little sweeter, we pulled together these Cherry Berry Cheesecake Popsicles. What I love about these is for one – they are super easy, and two – they are creamy and decadent without the sometimes ‘heavy’ feeling after heading for a tub of Ben & Jerry’s (although sometimes that’s necessary, too!)
Cherry Berry Cheesecake Popsicles Recipe
To start off this fun summertime recipe you’ll first have to make sure you have popsicle molds, I found mine at Crate & Barrel but there are lots of great affordable options online.
And, if you’re participating in our Chilled & Cherry Summer Sweepstakes you may be able to win some of your very own! Give us a follow on our social channels to learn more!
First, either manually slice your cherries to remove the pit OR if you’re handy and prepared, grab your cherry pitter! You’ll want to pit 1 cup of cherries and dice up about 1 cup of strawberries. Next, add the cherries, berries and 2 tablespoons of honey into a saucepan as the fruits begin to release their yummy juices in a quick simmer. Once bubbling, reduce heat completely and let the mixture sit for about 10 minutes before adding it to a Tupperware safe container that you can easily place into your freezer. Leave in the freezer for about 20 minutes to allow the cherry berry mixture to completely cool.
Next, add your cream cheese, Greek yogurt (or regular yogurt – either works!), honey, lemon juice and vanilla extract to your mixing bowl and mix with an electric mixer.
While I let the base mixture sit as I also waited for my cherry berry mixture to cool down, I skipped to crushing up my graham crackers in my blender(or a food processor works of course) into teeny tiny pieces, and added some butter to help make it stick. You can also use a little coconut oil for this as well for a dairy free alternative – your preference!
Lastly, just fill your molds with a spoonful of both the cherry mixture and creamy base one after another – mixing it around in the mold with a spoon so you can achieve a desired ‘swirl’ or ‘marble’ effect with the mixture. Top the rim with the graham cracker crumbs – I used enough to fill about a half inch of space in the mold. Be sure not to over-fill your popsicle molds with the popsicle mixture or you won’t have enough room to close it before it freezes.
You’re done! Just place your popsicle molds in the freezer – I recommend letting them chill for a full day, as the creamy base (rather than a standard ice-based popsicle) needs a bit more time to completely chill so it can easily be removed from the molds.
When you finally take the popsicles out to enjoy, be sure to run the molds under warm water for about 5 seconds on each side so the popsicles easily come out of the mold.
That’s it! This recipe is super easy and fun to do with the kids this summer and it’s SO good. If your family is anything like mine – they’ll be gone in one sitting! If you’d like to make these at home with your own kiddos, enter to win in our Chilled & Cherry Summer Sweepstakes where we will be giving a lucky winner a new prize EACH week! All you have to do is head to our social channels, follow us and tag a friend that loves cherries just as much as you do – and you (or your friend) could win a weekly prize – this week it happens to be popsicle molds!
Good luck & enjoy!