Mocha Popsicles

What's colder than an ice cold mocha?  Mocha popsicles!  This recipe takes about ten minutes to prepare, is very light in fat and calories, and, very importantly in such hot weather...is very, very cold and refreshing.  Let's not talk about how many of these I've been eating a day. 

I adapted this recipe (very slightly) from Eating Well on a Budget.  The Dishwasher and I love Eating Well and love their cookbooks, and we both think this newest cookbook is one of the best we've bought.  The yield for this recipe will depend on the popsicle molds that you use.  I got 6 popsicle plus half a cup of extra liquid, which I drank, happily and guiltlessly.  I bought myself these Tovolo popsicle molds from Amazon.com a few months ago, and I really, really love them.  The tray at the bottom catches drips from even the messiest of eaters (ahem), and it makes a nice adult-sized popsicle. 




Mocha Popsicles

The original recipe calls for regular half-and-half...and the portion size is very small, so you could go ahead and use that.  I happen to like to eat, well, multiple of these a day and am therefore glad I went with the fat-free half-and-half.

Ingredients:
2 cups hot brewed coffee
4 1/2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup fat free half-and-half
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

Directions:
1. Whisk the sugar and cocoa powder into the hot coffee until they have dissolved.
2. Whisk in the half-and-half, the vanilla extract, and the salt.
3. Pour into your popsicle molds, insert sticks, and freeze for at least 6 hours.  Run your popsicles under hot water for a minute or two to unmold them.

P.S.  When they say wait 6 hours, they aren't kidding.  I tried to cheat, and it didn't end well.