Homemade Fudgesicles

this idea

These homemade fudgesicles were inspired by my sweet niece, Elsie! They are currently a favorite of hers and often when I’m on FaceTime with her, she’s eating one! It’s made me crave them and I decided I had to try making a homemade version, just to see how they were. And of course they were delicious, so I had to share them here!

Do you call these fudge bars, fudge pops or fudgesicles? Or I guess even Fudgies is an option! This homemade version is so great because you can use your favorite kind of chocolate (milk, semi-sweet or dark), and a really good quality chocolate, and make these so chocolatey and creamy. I’m not the biggest fan of chocolate ice cream, but these are amazing and I just want to keep eating them. They also are very easy and quick to make. Well, other than waiting for them to freeze!

I used this popsicle mold to make my fudgsicles. I’ve had it for years and it works great and it’s held up so well. (Although I’ve heard silicone popsicle molds are easier to remove from the mold, so maybe I need to upgrade?)

When I made this batch of fudgesicles, I’m not really sure how I ended up getting that darker section at the bottom. Maybe I didn’t whisk quite enough? Maybe it was the cornstarch? (I experimented with different ways of making these). I wasn’t trying for it, didn’t add another layer of anything, but I loved how they looked. So I went with it for the photoshoot! Normally, they turn out one solid color.

It also was incredibly hot and humid the day I picked to photograph these. So I barely could get any shots before the fudge pops were melting all over! Ice cream is always the trickiest to photograph! (But one of my favorites to get to clean up from!).

Tips for Making Homemade Fudgsicles:

• Quality of chocolate matters! I made my batches with semi-sweet chocolate, but used different brands. Using Ghirardelli chocolate in the one batch took it above and beyond. So if you’re trying to make a really good treat – splurge on the expensive chocolate. If it’s just for kids, they’re probably not going to notice, so stick with the cheaper stuff – haha!
• Heavy cream is going to give you a creamier fudgesicle. Which will seem so much more decadent! My recipe uses mostly heavy cream, with a little bit of milk. I made a batch using less heavy cream and more milk, because I ran out of heavy cream, and there was a difference in texture. Still delicious, but a little more icy and not as creamy. However, I’ve found that using more heavy cream gives you a slightly more melt-y looking popsicle (but tastes so amazing!). So if you want it to look more defined, use more milk, less heavy cream. Just keep the total liquid used at 2-1/2 cups.
• Cornstarch isn’t needed for these to turn out. I researched a bunch of recipes, most use cornstarch, so I thought it must be a critical ingredient. I came up with a recipe using it, and they came out fine (although maybe contributed to these specific ones being two-toned). But I wanted to see if you could make them without it, because the less ingredients needed, the better. And the fudge pops turn out just fine out without it, so I left that out of my final recipe.