It's Popsicle Week!!!! This is a cause to celebrate. It's like Christmas in July for food bloggers. If you've never heard of it before, Popsicle Week is when a crap-ton of food bloggers share popsicle recipes. That's really all there is to it. But there's something about a ton of food bloggers sharing popsicle recipes in the height of summer that just brings a smile to your face, am I right? The hype around this event is something that could only be pulled off by Billy from Wit & Vinegar, the mastermind behind this whole thing. (Keep an eye out for his cookbook, coming out later this year.)

This year I decided to go with a rich, fudgey popsicle (a fudgesicle). But, I have what you might call a "grown-up version" of a fudgesicle for you. One of my favorite desserts of all time is an affogato (espresso poured over gelato). More specifically, I love getting an affogato at Capogiro Gelato in Philadelphia (a place I wrote about a few months ago), with their bacio gelato, which is an intense chocolate gelato with hazelnut flecks in it.

So for my fudgesicle recipe I've essentially made my favorite affogato into popsicle form. How convenient! No need to brew espresso or even have artisan gelato on hand - just pop one of these little babes out of your freezer. It's like an affogato on a stick. (Although, if you want to be totally crazy, I bet it would be fun to put one of these upside-down in a mug, pour espresso over it, and then eat the popsicle while occasionally dipping it back into the espresso .... Is that totally nuts? I would do it.)

Chocolate + hazelnut + coffee = one of my favorite flavor combinations of all time. That's why I love The Fauxmartha's Salted Nutella Latte so much, which is why I turned THAT into a popsicle for last year's Popsicle Week. Yep, my recipe this year has the same flavor palette as last year's. I told you I love that combo! But I promise you that the two recipes are quite different. The Nutella Latte Pops are more of a frozen Nutella iced coffee (in fact, that's exactly what they are), and this year's is more fudgey and smooth, like ice cream on a stick. And they're both delicious!

Throughout this week there will be SO MANY popsicle recipes showing up around the interwebz, so stay tuned. To stay updated on the whole list you can follow along on Billy's site, which he will be updating throughout the week. You can also find all of the past years' recipes there as well. He has allllll of your popsicle needs covered. In case you're wondering which popsicle mold I used, it's this one.

Happy Popsicle Week, everybody!

Illustration at top created with Illustrator and Photoshop.
Prints of my illustrations (plus other products with my work on them) are available in my Society6 shop.

HAZELNUT COFFEE FUDGESICLES

Makes ten 3-oz. popsicles

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup raw hazelnuts
2 cups unsweetened cashew milk (or other milk of choice)
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1.5 tbsp corn starch
2.5 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tbsp instant espresso powder
3.5 tbsp (scant 1/4 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
generous pinch of sea salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Toast the raw hazelnuts in a 350°F oven for about 5 minutes, or until slightly golden and fragrant. Let them cool slightly, and then rub them together in a clean towel to get as much of the skins off as possible. Most likely they won’t come off completely, but that’s okay.
Using a food processor or by hand, chop the hazelnuts into very small pieces. I like to start doing this in my food processor and then finish the job by hand, because otherwise my food processor turns some of the nuts into flour and leaves some large chunks behind. You don’t want hazelnut flour, just very small pieces. Set aside.
Combine the milk, sugar, corn starch, cocoa powder and espresso powder in a medium bowl. No need to stir at this point.
In a medium saucepan over very low heat, melt the chocolate chips. Once they’re melted, add the milk mixture. Turn the heat to medium and whisk it all together. Cook for 5-10 minutes until the mixture begins to thicken, whisking frequently.
Remove the chocolate mixture from the heat and immediately stir in the butter, vanilla extract and sea salt. Stir in the hazelnut pieces.
Let the mixture cool for a few minutes and then pour into your popsicle molds. Place the molds in the freezer to freeze completely, at least 4-6 hours. Run the mold under warm water for a minute to help loosen the popsicle before eating it.