Double Berry (Cherry blueberry) Popsicles

I have determined that is my summer for experimentation with popsicles. My son loves them and I must admit, so do I. Popsicles are the most refreshing on hot summer days and since I live in HOTlanta, they are the perfect treat. There are gourmet popsicles available here for $3.00 a pop and although they taste delicious, I am fairly certain that I can make popsicles that are just as creative with the combination of flavors, have interesting texture and are all around more cost effective. You may remember the strawberry-lemonade popsicles I made last month, well I have taken it a step further and utilized the berries of this season - cherries and blueberries that I picked up at Walmart to make another batch of popsicles which are sure to delight!

Cherries are probably my favorite berry and I am excited when they are in season. One thing that I recently learned about cherries is that they don’t have a very long shelf life and should be eaten within four days of purchase. Both my son and I are huge fans so we have no worries about them going bad, we devour them well before their “expiration” date. 

When thinking about the type of popsicles to make, I decided to add blueberries to the mix because I thought cherry-blueberry popsicles would be a perfect combination of sweet and tart.

I searched for recipes and apparently not many people have thought about this particular combination because I was unable to find a recipe for cherry blueberry popsicles. I was far from worried because I juice and make smoothies frequently and decided to simply think in terms of what I might like in a smoothie and add some additional sweetener for the popsicles. For the sweetener I used agave nectar. I found that agave is quite sweet and a little goes a long way. In addition to the agave, I also added some fresh squeezed lemon juice.

After mixing all of the ingredients and tasting my concoction, I decided the flavor combination was perfect in my opinion but I had to wait until after freezing to truly be sure. I found some mini-popsicle molds at Walmart that I purchased for this project. 

Although I love my star shaped popsicles, they are pretty big and I wanted something smaller for my six year old.

Although this set of popsicles were not as pretty as my first batch, the taste is completely delicious. One of the things that I like about this combination is the texture from the berry combination. In addition to the natural bumpy texture, I cut up some cherries and added them to the mold before pouring the jusice My son liked them however he’d prefer a sweeter popsicle. Next time I will add a little more agave to the mix his batch and I’ll keep the original recipe for myself. As a matter of fact, I will probably add a little adult beverage to the mix!

If you decide to make the recipe I’d love to hear how you like it. And without further ado, here is my recipe for Double Berry popsicles!

Double Berry Popsicles

I cup washed blueberries

1 cup pitted cherries plus 1/4 cup

1/4 cup agave nectar

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (approx 1.5 lemons)

Place blueberries, 1 cup cherries, agave and lemon juice in blender. Blend about one minute. Add remaining cherries to popsicle mold. Pure juice into mold and freeze for at least 4 hours.

Enjoy!