Cherry Lemonade Popsicles

These cherry lemonade popsicles are sweet and tangy, super simple to make (using healthy ingredients!) and the perfect summertime treat.

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My niece Scarlet is obsessed with popsicles right now, as you would expect any three-year-old to be. Not only does she love anything and everything sweet, but she loves cold things, and does this really adorable little shiver whenever she eats them. While they’re probably the messiest food you could choose to give to a little kid, Scarlet really is just way too cute to deny sometimes, so she ends up eating a good amount of popsicles. And since her parents do try to (somewhat) limit the amount of sugar and junk-food that she eats, I decided that I would make some healthier and lower-sugar popsicles that would make not only Scarlet happy, but mom and dad too. Enter my cherry lemonade popsicles, the perfect summertime treat.

HOMEMADE POPSICLES

While looking for something completely different in my kitchen recently, I came across a set of popsicle molds that I hadn’t used in forever. And I immediately knew I wanted to make homemade popsicles for Scarlet. My first attempt was watermelon popsicles, because we happen to have a ton of watermelon in the fridge. I made them super simply, by just blending watermelon and pouring it into the popsicle molds. While delicious, I knew that I wanted my next attempt to be a bit more involved. My fiancé Gabe absolutely loves cherries, and we pretty much always have a bag of them in the fridge. So those peaked my interest, but I knew I wanted to add another flavor that would play up both the sweetness and the sourness of the cherries.

And so these cherry lemonade popsicles were born. Like my watermelon popsicles, I made them super simply. I pitted a bunch of cherries and blended those up with a little bit of orange juice. Then I made a quick batch of lemonade, which I sweetened with half honey and half sugar, just to keep these popsicles a little healthier for Scarlet (but you could just use sugar, or try my mint lemonade recipe for something a little different). I attempted to make these popsicles layered by pouring the cherry juice in first, letting those freeze for about an hour, and then adding the lemonade, but the two kind of just mixed together. If you wanted to attempt layers, let the first layer freeze for a good 4 hours before adding the second.

Let your popsicles freeze overnight before eating them. Give the popsicle molds a quick run under some warm water, and the popsicles will slide right out of them.

KIDS IN THE KITCHEN

Not only did I want Scarlet to have a delicious popsicle with less sugar, but I wanted her to be involved in the making of it as well. She loves to help in the kitchen. And I love involving her in my recipes, like I did with these homemade cheez-its or these painted sugar cookies. Plus, I think its really important for kids to learn how to cook from a young age, and to understand how their food is made. So Scarlet helped me squeeze the lemons and mix the lemonade, and to pour the juices into the molds.

And while she loved helping out in the kitchen, I think she loved the popsicles even more. They really are the perfect sweet-and-tart summertime treat.