guinness & cream popsicles

Ah, booze pops.  I love them.  Just the idea alone makes the small child/alcoholic in me giggle.  Alcohol on a stick. Genius.

  I definitely needed to make me some of these.  Now I am a beer drinker(classy, I know).  And for all the booze pop recipes going around, there is a shortage of ones with beer.  Maybe because who wants a popsicle that tastes like the beer slushie you made when you put the beer in the freezer to chill quickly, and then got drunk and forgot about?  It’s ok to admit it.  We’ve all been there.

  So I’ve been pondering it for a while now.  And then the Guinness light bulb hit!  It’s so thick it’s practically a milkshake already(beershakes?…hmmm…)  I added some chocolate & cream & a little bit of salt.  It took a few experiments, and a lot of popsicle eating, but I finally got the flavor balance of sweet and savory and boozy just right.

ingredients:

• 1 can Guinness (about 2 cups)
• 1 c. heavy cream
• 1/2 c. whole milk
• 2 tbl. sugar
• 1 tbl. cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Pop open your can of Guinness to allow some of the carbonation (and nitrogen!) to escape. Combine heavy cream, milk, sugar, salt and cocoa powder in a pot on the stove and heat gently while whisking until the sugar and coca powder have dissolved.  Allow to cool for a bit.  Add Guinness and vanilla extract and whisk to combine.  Pour into popsicle molds and freeze to set, about 4 hours.

  If you want to use wooden popsicle sticks instead of the plastic ones that come with popsicle molds, let pops chill for about 1/2 hour, then insert the wooden sticks.  To release from the mold, run the outside of the mold under warm water for a few seconds.

  My chocolate settled a bit to the bottom of the mold.  That’s alright.  But you could try mixing in a little cornstarch into the hot liquid to get them more homogenized.  If you do, let me know if it works.