Recipe: Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Pops (using cake crumbs and vanilla ice cream)

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE ICE CREAM POPS

"There was always that one kid, the iconoclast among all of us tasting our first bit of autonomy, who went for the Strawberry Shortcake bars. My friend Andrea steered clear of them because they were her sister's thing. "Both the Chocolate Eclair and the Strawberry Shortcake bars were kind of the creme de la creme of the ice cream truck," Andrea recalled. She added: "I mostly think of them as the alternative to the chocolate version, and because they are intimately bound up in my childhood sense of choosing different things than my sister did, I also think of them as the Kerry doll to the Chrissy doll.""



1 cup yellow cake crumbs (about 2 cupcakes or 1/4 of a loaf pound cake)
1 1/2 cups finely diced strawberries
1 pint premium vanilla ice cream

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.

TO PREPARE THE CRUMBS AND STRAWBERRIES:
Crumble the cake with your hands until you have evenly broken-apart but not too fine cake crumbs.

Spread the cake crumbs over one of the prepared baking sheets and bake for 10 to 13 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Spread the diced strawberries in a single layer on the second prepared baking sheet. Transfer the strawberry- and crumb-filled pans to the freezer and let freeze for 1 hour.

TO MAKE THE POPS:
Remove the ice cream from the freezer and let it rest at room temperature for 5 minutes, until just soft enough to scoop, then transfer it to a heavy-duty stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat the ice cream on medium speed for 15 seconds, or just until it starts to become smooth. Add the frozen cake and strawberry pieces and beat for just 10 seconds more. Do not overmix (overmixing the ice cream will beat in too much air, which may mean faster melting, which will cause your mix to crystallize when frozen.)

Transfer the ice cream mixture to Popsicle molds* and freeze for 2 hours.

Run the molds briefly under gently running warm water to loosen the pops. Store in the freezer for up to 2 months.

*VARIATION: If you don't have Popsicle molds, transfer the ice cream to a loaf pan and freeze until set. Serve scoops on ice cream cones.

Makes 2 1/2 cups of ice cream or six (4 ounce each) ice cream pops
Used by permission to Recipelink.com from Clarkson Potter
Adapted from source: Treat Yourself: 70 Classic Snacks You Loved as a Kid (and Still Love Today) by Jennifer Steinhauer