Every week, baking expert Alice Medrich is going rogue on Food52 -- with shortcuts, hacks, and game-changing recipes.
Today: Alice proves that it's worth the (minimal) effort to make your own version of these childhood favorites.
Why would you make these yourself? Check out the ingredients label on a commercial brand. The real question is: Why wouldn’t you?
With only 6 ingredients (counting vanilla and salt), these are lean and clean, super flavorful, and refreshing, and you can use the type of milk and cocoa powder you like best. Believe it or not, low fat milk makes the most flavorful and refreshing pops of all, but you can have it your way. Did I say they were easy to make? They are.
Fudgesicles
Makes ten 3-ounce fudgesicles
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened natural or Dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups milk (any fat percentage)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional)
Ice pop mold with 10 cavities (or 10 individual molds)
See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.
Get excited about Alice's forthcoming book Flavor Flours: nearly 125 recipes -- from Double Oatmeal Cookies to Buckwheat Gingerbread -- made with wheat flour alternatives like rice flour, oat flour, corn flour, sorghum flour, and teff (not only because they're gluten-free, but for an extra dimension of flavor, too).
Photo by James Ransom
My career was sparked by a single bite of a chocolate truffle, made by my Paris landlady in 1972. I returned home to open this country’s first chocolate bakery and dessert shop, Cocolat, and I am often “blamed” for introducing chocolate truffles to America. Today I am the James Beard Foundation and IACP award-winning author of ten cookbooks, teach a chocolate dessert class on Craftsy.com, and work with some of the world’s best chocolate companies. In 2018, I won the IACP Award for Best Food-Focused Column (this one!).
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