Golden Banana Cream Cheese Popsicles with Chocolate Coconut Chunks

Ingredients

Golden banana cream cheese portion

• 8
  
  ounces almond milk
  
• 4
  
  tablespoons nonfat Greek yogurt
  
• 1
  
  tablespoon Lyle’s golden syrup
  
• 1
  
  tablespoon powdered chocolate peanut butter
  
• 1
  
  ounce cream cheese
  
• 1/2 – 1
  
  frozen banana
  

Chocolate coconut chunks

• 1
  
  tablespoon liquid coconut oil
  
• 1
  
  teaspoon cacao or cocoa powder
  
• 1 – 1.5
  
  teaspoons golden syrup
  
• 1/4
  
  cup toasted coconut flakes
  

Directions

1. To toast the coconut: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a baking sheet, spread out the coconut flakes. Depending on the size of the flakes, bake in oven for 2-5 minutes until flakes turn golden brown. It’s important to watch to make sure they don’t burn; small flakes take about 2 minutes, thicker ones can take 5). Set aside in a small dish.
2. While the flakes are toasting, add all of the banana cream cheese ingredients set to blender. Puree or liquefy until all ingredients are combined. Set aside.
3. To make the chocolate coconut chunks: In a small bowl, combine the coconut oil, cocoa powder, and golden syrup. Stir well. Taste to check for flavor and readjust ingredients if not enough cocoa/sweetness/etc. Add the coconut flakes to this mixture and stir well to coat the flakes. The mixture should not be dry. Taste the mixture for desired sweetness level and add more of the oil, powder, and syrup if you’d like more of a chocolate shell type appearance in the popsicle versus a chewy chunk texture and appearance.
4. In the mold, fill each popsicle ¼ full. Then drop in a little bit of the coconut chocolate chunk mixture to each popsicle. Continue alternating the liquid and chunks until the molds are full. Freeze well.
5. Tip: If you expect to save some popsicles for later instead of eating them all at once, in order to conserve water, instead of running the mold under warm water every time you want a popsicle, fill a bowl with warm water and remove all frozen popsicles at once, set on a dish, and leave in the freezer.