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All it takes is a couple of bars from that familiar tune of the ice cream man: instantly I’m five again, equal parts nervous and excited. Whenever my brother and I heard that da duh da duh da duh, we’d run around the house screaming “ice cream man! Ice cream man!” It didn’t even matter if my mom gave us money or not, even the idea of the ice cream man was almost too much to bear.

On the rare (okay, almost always) occasion that my mom would find some change in time, we would burst out our front door, our tiny fists – quarters and dimes tightly tucked inside – raised triumphantly above our heads. It was always a moment of intense speculation; would the ice cream man still be there and more importantly, would he still have our treats of choice?

When we finally made it to the ice cream man, we would slow down, our decision-making skills thrown out the window. To my five-year-old self, choosing the right treat felt eminently important. I’d waver between ice cream sandwiches, rocket pops, and fudgsicles. They were all my favorite and I would always make my brother choose first, just in case I got frozen treat envy.

Now that I think about it, choosing and buying treats from the ice cream man was one of the rare things that my mom let us do by ourselves. We felt so grown up, talking to another adult, picking our treat of choice, handing over our change. Yes, the ice cream was sweet, but what was even sweeter was that first taste of independence, satisfying and safe in our little cul de sac.

These fudgesicle brownie pops remind me of childhood in the best way possible. Chewy chunks of fudge brownies are suspended in creamy, chocolate-y goodness. I ate two in a row as soon as they were frozen enough. I would have had a third, but now that I’m a grown up (as if!) and have to make decisions every day, I figured two in a row was enough. I just won’t talk about the third one I had after dinner…

Homemade Fudgesicle Brownie Pops Recipe inspired by Lady and Pups

Fudgesicle recipe via Food 52
makes 8 pops, depending on pop size
prep time: 20 minutes
freeze time: 6 hours, or overnight
total time: 6 plus hours

• brownie chunks**
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cocoa
• slightly heaping 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
• pinch salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, combine the sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt. Add a touch of milk and whisk into a smooth paste. Whisk in the remaining milk until smooth.

Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, stirring with the whisk or silicone spatula. Continue to heat until small bubbles appear at the edges – continue to heat for 2 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Transfer to a glass measuring cup and let cool. Cut or break the brownies into large chunks and stuff into the bottom of the mold so your popsicle stick has something to rest on. Insert the stick and loosely pack chunks of brownies into the rest of the mold.

Pour the cooled fudgesicle mixture into the molds. Freeze for 6 hours or overnight. To store, remove pops from molds and wrap in plastic wrap and keep frozen.

Notes:
**I halved my all time favorite brown butter brownie recipe, but you can feel free to make your go-to brownie recipe, or use store bought.

Popsicle molds found here!

brownieschocolatecocoafrozenfudgesummer