Healthy Chocolate Popsicles for Kids (Creamy Fudgesicles)

These Aren’t Your Average Fudge Pops

It’s just plain tough being a health-conscious parent in the heat of summer when sugary frozen treats abound, isn’t it? Well, fear not, because these healthy chocolate popsicles for kids are the perfect antidote to the ice cream and popsicle treats your kids’ friends get to have every hot summer day.

It’s always a frustrating situation when I want to give my kids something frozen to help them cool down, but I don’t want them to have all the sugar that’s in those frozen treats.

It doesn’t help that “all the other kids” get to have said frozen treats while I’m telling my 7-year-old “Not this time”. Because, inevitably, there will be another sugary frozen treat offered at the next play date, park outing or special event.

I don’t always want to be the mom who says “No” to fun treats, especially frozen treats in the summer. But I also don’t want my kids regularly consuming processed, high-sugar snacks and desserts (I’ll tell you more about why right here).

So as this summer began, I realized I needed to come up with my own popsicle recipes that I could feel good about and that my kids would actually love. So that’s just what I did 😃

First, I made these blueberry and strawberry frozen yogurt bites that my toddler literally could not stop eating. Then I made the perfect, creamy, dairy-free strawberry popsicles sweetened with dates.

And then, after several frozen chocolate treat fails and half-wins, I finally created this chocolate fudgesicle recipe that my kids crave and beg for.

I’m pretty sure your kids will crave these too. And you won’t mind if they do because these healthy chocolate popsicles are wholesomely sweetened with dates and contain five grams of protein in each fudge pop.

The Optimal Time to Make Chocolate Popsicles

These healthy chocolate popsicles for kids are such a refreshing and satisfying treat for summertime. And trust me, you will be making these all summer long. But here are some suggestions for when you really need to make these:

Every time you run out. As soon as you can either empty your popsicle mold or your kids eat them all up, make more ASAP. Because your kids are going to be asking for them and it takes several hours for them to freeze once you mix them up. So don’t leave that freezer empty! Or you will have your hangry kids to answer to 🙂

In the evening. I highly recommend you make these chocolate popsicles for kids once they are in bed for the night. Because if they see you making them, they are going to want some right then and there. So make them in the evening undisturbed and they will be good and frozen by morning when your kids discover them and ask to have one for breakfast (hey, they have protein and no added sugar – why not?).

Playdates. Do yourself a huge favor and have some of these homemade fudgesicles available whenever your child has a friend over during summer break. Friends always end up needing snacks and this is one cool-down snack you can feel confident and guilt-free about giving to not only your own child, but your child’s friends too.

All the time. I’m just going to go ahead and say that you should always keep your freezer inventory well-stocked with these creamy fudgesicles. I don’t know about your kids, but mine love frozen treats even in cold weather. I imagine I’ll be making these all-year round.

The great thing about these DIY chocolate popsicles – besides the fact that they are naturally sweetened and have protein – is that they are super easy to make. So you can whip them up super easy any time.

Ingredients

• Date Paste: Using Date paste as the sweetener in these fudge popsicles keeps them entirely free from added sugar. Use my super simple homemade date paste recipe here.

• Greek Yogurt: Using Greek yogurt for this recipe adds extra protein. I prefer to use organic to avoid the antibiotics and growth hormones. Make sure you get plain, unflavored and unsweetened Greek yogurt.

• Cocoa Powder: Any regular cocoa powder is fine for this recipe. I often use cacao powder which is less processed than cocoa powder, but it’s very similar in its taste and uses.

• Milk: Whatever milk your family prefers will be fine. I use organic whole milk.

Instructions

Step 1

Add all ingredients to a personal-size blender cup and blend until all ingredients are evenly mixed.

Step 2

Spoon mixture into popsicle molds and insert popsicle sticks into the centers.

Step 3

Place in the freezer for at least five hours or overnight.

Substitutions & Tips

• I use a personal-size Ninja blender (I absolutely love Ninja appliances) to make a single batch of four popsicles. However, if you have enough popsicle molds and want to double or triple your batch, you can make these in a full-size blender as well.

• I like to use wooden popsicle sticks instead of the plastic popsicle sticks that come with popsicle molds. The reasons are because it means less washing, I don’t have to worry about losing them and I can make popsicles for any occasion without worrying about having the wrong color stick for the holiday.

• You can replace the Greek yogurt with regular, plain yogurt if you prefer. Just ensure the yogurt does not have added sugar.

• If you don’t have any date paste made or you don’t want to make date paste, you can use dates instead. I like to use date paste so that I don’t end up with any date chunks in the popsicles, but using dates will serve the same purpose. You may need to soak them in hot water to soften them up a bit first if they are really hard dates.

You can also purchase date paste from Amazon or Middle Eastern grocery stores. Store-bought date paste will also be more firm than homemade, but it will probably blend in a little easier than dates straight from the bag.