fawn&forest

I did it. I made the Minty Pea Pops from Jennifer Carden's The Toddler Cafe (Chronicle Books 2008) and they are litterally flying out of the freezer.  Eliot is  a minty pea pop maniac!  He has eaten so many peas he can now literally open the freezer door all by himself. Impressive.

The recipe is so simple + one of those foundational recipes that is totally adaptable to what you have on hand. Corn? Pineapple? Kiwi? With a bit of tweaking you could get your kids to eat their veggies + fruit, even on a dreadful food strike. Food strike aside, what kid doesn't love a popsicle?

With the kind permission of Jennifer Carden, here is her recipe for the Minty Pea Pops:

ingredients:
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup frozen petite green peas
scant 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/8 to a 1/4 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips
popsicle sticks

directions:
Place the cream cheese, peas and sugar in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 20-second intervals until the cheese is softened to room temperature.

Using a stick or standing blender, puree the ingredients into a smooth paste. Add the extract and mix again, scraping the bowl frequently. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.

Place the mixture in a large zip-top bag and cut about 1/2 inch off of the bottom corner. Squeeze into a clean ice cube tray or mini-muffin tin, place 1 popsicle stick in each and freeze until solid, about 1 hour. Depending on your freezer, you may have to let them freeze for up to 4 hours. For best results, make and freeze overnight.

Once the pops are frozen, remove them from the molds by twisting just like ice cubes and seal in an airtight container for up to 1 month.  Makes 6 cube-shaped pops.

It's that simple! I used a mini food processor with great results, although be sure to mix in the chocolate chips by hand and not with the blender as they'll disappear in the chop. Though this recipe says it will make 6 popsicles, I got about 14 popsicles out of the batch using a Fresh Baby food tray.

One of the best aspects of this recipe? Peas in a popsicle. The green color is real and not some weird chemical color experiment. Brilliant!

For the scoop on Jennifer Carden, be sure to check out her blog and the spotlight on her at 101 Cookbooks!