These are serious ice cream bars! My Strawberry Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream Bars are super simple, look legit store-bought, and are going to be your new summer fling. Once you get an ice cream pop mold, there’s no going back!
Sunday was Mother’s Day.
This was my second Mother’s Day, and I felt like it was even more special this year. My little one ran into my room holding a big box of Lucky Charms, just for me (because I had mentioned how much I love Lucky Charms to my husband), I got an adorable card, lots of flowers, and just lots of kind words and help that day.
We planned a surprise dinner for my mom with my brother, because after not living near each other for over 10 years, this was a Mother’s Day to truly celebrate and be together.
I don’t need cheesy jewelry that I’ll never wear, I really just need open-mouth kisses from my one year old and a box of Lucky Charms (and the promise of a massage).
I feel like I need to put it out there, that I don’t take it for granted that I’m lucky to be a mom. We went through plenty of struggles to get pregnant and I have come across people in my life that just aren’t as lucky as I am.
Mother’s Day can be this awful, sad reminder of people and hopes lost. Of babies gone, of moms gone, of bitter relationships, of endless doctors visits. I never realized that a day that I tended to breeze by as a kid (here mom, I made you this bracelet, now where’s breakfast?) could hold such deep wounds to so many people. My husband’s mother is no longer with us, making this day one that glazes his eyes over here and there. I can tell it hurts. And during those times that we were in and out of doctors’ offices with zero answers to why I couldn’t get pregnant, that made it double hard.
So, although this year was nothing but sweet, I have this need to shout it out that I’m not naive and I’m not blind to those who may not have had an enjoyable weekend.
Can we talk Ice Cream Bars now?! Specifically Strawberry Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream Bars?? Here we go!
First of all, I didn’t think store-bought-looking molds existed until a substantial Amazon hunt went on and a few wrong orders returned. But alas, they’re real! And they’re super easy too.
This flavor came barreling back to me after remembering a trip to an Andy’s Frozen Custard in college. I had ordered this giant cup full of ice cream churned with strawberries, chocolate chips, and cracked chocolate shell pieces. It’s like a chocolate-covered-strawberry concrete. So dang good.
To keep this super simple, I started with a good vanilla ice cream. Choose one with real vanilla and minimal ingredients. Basically, choose one you’d want to eat on its own.
To the vanilla ice cream, I added tiny chopped strawberries and chocolate chunks that I attacked with a knife. Making sure your strawberries are very finely chopped is the key here because then they add more flavor to the ice cream and don’t leave icy chunks in your bars. I froze this all together in the molds before dipping them in a simple chocolate shell.
You may or may not know this, but chocolate shell is just chocolate melted with coconut oil. When it hits the cold ice cream, it becomes a shell! Just those two ingredients are your key to ice cream bars all summer long.
Are you ready to make some Strawberry Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream bars?
Strawberry Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream Bars
Recipe makes 4 standard bars
Recipe by Melissa @ Treats With a Twist
INGREDIENTS
1 heaping cup vanilla ice cream
¼ cup finely diced strawberries
3 Tbs. chopped chocolate chunks
1 cup chocolate chunks or chips
2 Tbs. coconut oil
METHOD
Make sure your silicone molds are clean and ready to go. If you’re using the same molds as I am, then you’ll have 4 to fill.
In a bowl, use a sturdy wooden spoon to stir together the ice cream, strawberries and 3 Tbs. chocolate chunks. Work quickly so your ice cream doesn’t melt. Spoon the ice cream into the molds until they’re evenly filled.
Use a popsicle stick to scrape the top of the ice cream level with the molds. Insert a popsicle stick into each mold according to directions. Cover the exposed tops lightly with parchment and transfer the molds to the freezer (I had a sheet pan waiting in the freezer creating a level surface). Freeze overnight or for at least 4 hours, until they’re completely firm.
Next, make your chocolate shell. Melt the 1 cup chocolate and whisk in the coconut oil until smooth. Lay out a piece of parchment paper for the finished ice cream pops to rest on as you’re dipping.
Carefully remove each ice cream pop from it’s mold. Dip the pop quickly into the chocolate shell, slightly shaking it as you bring it out of the chocolate so you don’t have much excess. Set the finished pop on the parchment. Repeat with all 4 {If you want to add an extra decorative drizzle, do that quickly and now}. Then place them back in the freezer. Let them set for at least an hour.
They’re ready! Enjoy!
TO PRINT this recipe, copy and paste the text into a blank document on your computer and hit print. I’ve gone old school, and it’s really not that bad!
