Ackee-nut Popsicles to beat the summer heat: they use the same recipe as the Vegan Trini Style Peanut Punch but are dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with crushed peanuts and sea salt.

Food is always more fun on a stick! Ackee-nut popsicles are a frozen treat twist on the vegan Trini style peanut punch featured on this site

Raucous laughter aside, there is rarely yelling in our apartment. When Web tried these popsicles however, he could not contain his disbelief “these are not vegan!!!”  he shouted in between bites “you’re lying! It can’t be!!!”. We had been down this road before I reminded him; he had a similar reaction after tasting both the Peanut Punch and the Ackeechata.

Ackees have the perfect texture for dessert!

Despite my proving time and time again, that ackees can provide that rich creamy mouth-feel in vegan or dairy free applications he is still amazed when trying the result. To top it off these are dipped in chocolate (70% dark), adding to his thinking that some sort of sorcery must be afoot 😆. Since dark chocolate tends to be on the bitter side, I made the popsicle base a bit sweet for my tastes to balance the coating. The crushed peanuts add texture and sea salt on sweets is just a divine combination serving the purpose also of balancing some of the sweetness.

These are so easy to make and only require a bit of patience while waiting for them to freeze. 

You can get a variety of popsicle molds from Amazon. Here are a few of my favorites:

How to use fudge sticks for homemade popsicles

Some popsicle molds come with plastic handles fitted that are meant to freeze the pops. I prefer to use fudge sticks. This way if I want to give away the popsicle I don’t have to worry about the return the stick.

The trick here is to wait till the pops are semi frozen then insert the fudge stick. Once the pop freezes completely the fudge stick will be held in place.

Ackee-nut popsicles take inspiration from peanut butter cups but are vegan


What do you think? As always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below. If you try this or any of the recipes from the site, be sure to #amazingackee so I can see your posts across social media.

Until next time, thanks for stopping by.

Trini style ackee peanut punch become these yummy popsicles dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with peanuts and sea salt

Ackee-nut Popsicles

Chantal
Creamy, vegan Trini style peanut punch with ackees are transformed into popsicles to beat the summer heat
Servings 4 pops

Ingredients
  

For the popsicle base:

  • 1 cup Unsweetened Oat Milk
  • 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp Water separated
  • 2 tsps Arrowroot powder
  • 1/4 cup Parboiled Ackee
  • 1/4 cup Smooth Peanut Butter you can use chunky if you prefer a bit a texture
  • 1 tbsp Cane sugar up to 2 tbsp if sweeter punch is preferred
  • Dash of Angostura Bitters optional
  • Dash of Cinnamon optional
  • Freshly ground nutmeg optional

For the Chocolate Coating:

  • 7 oz 70% Dark Chocolate broken up
  • 2 tsps Canola oil or any neutral flavoured oil

To finish:

  • Crushed peanuts
  • Sea salt flakes or kosher flake

Instructions
 

Make the popsicle base:

  • In a small saucepan, combine the oat milk and 1/4 cup water and place over medium low heat
  • Whisk together arrowroot powder with the remaining 1 tbsp water then add to the saucepan. Continue to cook stirring occasionally until thickened (about 3 minutes)
  • Pour oat milk mixture into blender and add ackee, peanut butter, sugar, bitters and cinnamon and nutmeg if using
  • Blend until completely smooth, taste and add more sugar if desired
  • Pour into popsicle molds and freeze overnight till solid
  • Once completely frozen, remove from mold and lay on a sheet of parchment paper on a tray or plate in the freezer while you make the chocolate coating.

Make the chocolate coating:

  • Melt the chocolate in microwave in 15 to 30 bursts at a time stirring at each interval until completely melted
  • Add oil and mix well to combine

To finish:

  • Have peanuts and salt ready as once the chocolate touches the popsicle it will start to solidify.
  • Dip one popsicle at a time (you may have to tilt your container) shake of the excess then place the dipped popsicle back on parchment and sprinkle with nuts and salt before the chocolate hardens.
  • Repeat with the remaining popsicles
  • Serve immediately or return to freezer till ready to serve

Notes

• The silky texture of ackees makes them great for vegan or lactose free recipes where creaminess is desired. Their mild flavour means they won't overpower other ingredients in cases such as this where you want them to play a supporting role.
• You can use any dairy free milk you like but preferably something mild in flavour that won't try to steal the show.
• Arrowroot is added for its thickening power which creates a fuller mouth-feel but it can be omitted. If you are omitting the arrowroot go straight to blending (no need to heat the oat milk)
• The popsicle base recipe makes a little less than 2 cups; how much you use will depend on the size and amount of popsicle molds you have. I had one mold with 4 one-third cup slots, there was enough for maybe one more pop left over which was happily drank.
• Tip: Use a container that is tall and narrow to dip the pops in, this way you use less chocolate and you can dip the whole popsicle getting fairly good coverage with just a bit of twirling necessary. I was able to completely cover the popsicles with just a bit of the chocolate coating left over. Alternately you could make half the chocolate coating recipe and simply drizzle the chocolate over the pop instead of dipping it.

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