Pop-Mania Part 1: Piña Colada Pudding Pops

It's been warming up here in Oregon. I'm a classic Pacific Northwest girl: I start to melt once it gets above 85. So in preparation of our heat wave (stop laughing...I realize that's about 20 degrees shy of what constitutes a heat wave where some of you are from) I've been experimenting in the kitchen to develop some tasty frozen concoctions to help us make it through some hot days without air conditioning.

Tasty Pop Flavor #1: Piña Colada Pudding pops

Piña Colada Pop Recipe:

• 1 box vanilla pudding mix
• 2 1/4 cups of milk
• 1 can of pineapple chunks
• 1/2 cup Cream of Coconut

1) Prepare pudding by whisking the pudding mix and the milk together in a bowl

2) Drain the can of pineapple, reserving the juice. Finely chop the pinepple chunks using a food chopper or food processor.

3) Mix the chopped pineapple, 2/3 cup of the reserved pineapple juice and the cream of coconut into the pudding.

4) Pour into popsicle molds or dixie cups and freeze

If you don't have a popsicle mold already (I'm personally jonesing for this one from Onyx), dixie cups work great. I like to put inverted cupcake liners on top of the cups. By cutting a little slit in them, it helps hold the stick upright while it's freezing and it also makes a convenient place to label what flavor the pops are. Like this:

For those wondering, I'm using "Take and Toss" baby spoons and forks for my sticks (which, by the way are BPA, PVC and phthalate free).

You can check out my project at these great parties (link up your own, too!):