Chocolate Chip Cherry Ice Pops

Makes 5 lollies

This brilliant sunshine calls for ice cream, ice cream, and more ice cream! But last summer I maaaay have gone a little overboard in trying to add all manner of hidden veggies to my kids' ice lollies and I can’t exactly say they went down a treat! So this time I decided to abandon the idea of sneaking in a courgette or two and went straight up creamy-sweet-deliciousness instead. But that’s not to say that these guys aren’t jam-packed with goodness too: 5-minute cherry compote, antioxidant-rich açai powder, high-protein low-sugar Skyr yogurt, dark chocolate chips, grass-fed collagen powder, oat milk and a touch of yacon syrup. These can easily be made vegan by swapping the Skyr yogurt for coconut yogurt, and the collagen powder for an unflavoured vegan protein powder instead.  But I am forever searching for ways to up my kids' protein intake since their choice of school lunch consists of plain pasta and carrots. Every. Single. Day. So if I can add 8g of protein in the form of a refreshing, low sugar (only 2½ g per lolly), after-school snack then it’s a double whammy for me because these guys are seriously, properly, all-out delicious and not just for the little ones! 

Weirdly, I am allergic to raw cherries, which is why I cook them quickly to make a compote, but if you are short on time then you can just use fresh raw cherries instead. But making them into a compote really does add a lovely rich sweetness to the lollies too. 

P.S - If you are wondering what on earth happened to the ends of the lollies - basically I was trying to be insta-cool and failed! I saw some amazing looking lollies with granola at the top and I tried to emulate them....needless to say, it didn’t quite work, but you can’t win ‘em all eh?! They were super delicious and that’s all that counts!

INGREDIENTS

·     100g Fresh Cherries
·     150g Skyr or Greek Yogurt for protein, or else coconut yogurt if vegan
·     100ml Milk (I used Oat Milk)
·     ½ tbsp Acai Powder
·     1 tbsp Yacon Syrup (or maple syrup)
·     15g Dark Chocolate Chips
·     20g Collagen Powder (or unflavoured vegan protein powder)

METHOD

·     De-stone the cherries.
·     Put the cherries in a small saucepan with a splash of water, and heat on low for 5 minutes to soften.
·     Mash and set aside.
·     In a bowl, add all of the ingredients and mix well to combine (or whizz together in a blender, leaving out the chocolate chips so they stay whole).
·     Pour into lolly molds and freeze for at least 5 hours or preferably overnight.
·     Tip: to help remove the lollies from the molds, run under warm water for a minute and they should just slip right out.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Calories – 74
Protein – 8g
Fat – 1g
Carbohydrates – 8g
Fibre – 1g