Creamsicles. Don’t you love them? I mean, really now, how can you not adore them in all their icy, creamy glory. And when you taste homemade creamsicle, you’ll never miss the prepackaged, boxed versions.
The other day, my son and I were resting on the soft grass in our front lawn, gazing at the clouds when we heard the ding-ding-ding of the local ice cream seller. I waved him down (yes, even at Nourished Kitchen we indulge occasionally), hoping he’d have some of that luscious organic strawberry Italian ice that’s made only a few blocks away from home. As he stopped his bike in front of our lawn and opened up his cart, we peered in. No dice. That organic Italian ice sells fast. I’d have said no immediately, but my four-year-old pulled at my skirts – I promised, you see. But everything in the cart, unsurprisingly, was littered with chemicals and processed ingredients: soy milk, high fructose corn syrup and barely recognizable ingredients. We gave it up and, instead, headed inside to make our very own homemade creamsicles.
Initially I tried grapefruit in place of orange for these homemade creamsicles and while I loved the bitter undertones of grapefruit and grapefruit zest, my husband and son felt less than satisfied: it was too bitter, too strong. So we tried again for an orange creamsicle – replacing grapefruit with sweet orange and omitting the zest entirely. Moreover, I knew every ingredient – from the fresh raw cream and milk to the pastured egg yolks and vanilla extract all sweetened with a bit of orchard blossom honey.
For these creamsicles, we use fresh cream and milk from grass-fed cow as well as raw pastured egg yolk. Raw egg yolk tends to get a bad rap – and it’s unfortunate that consumers have become so fearful of their food. While everyone recognizes potential dangers of foodborne illnesses, like salmonella from raw eggs, what they don’t consider is that only about one in every thirty thousand conventional eggs is infected and the incidence is even less among pastured eggs in which hens are kept in optimally healthy conditions: on grass with free access to consume the foods most natural for them. Raw egg yolk, as used in these creamsicles, are a potently rich source for two nutrients critical to health: biotin and choline.
Our own homemade creamsicles, rich with orange, vanilla and cream, provide both satisfaction and nourishment and, for me, it’s a treat I don’t hesitate to share with my young son. And, on a hot summer night like tonight, I indulge too.
homemade creamsicles
By Published: July 18, 2010
- Yield: 6 Servings
Creamy, icy and rich with the flavors of orange and vanilla, these homemade orange creamsicles satisfy and nourish.
Ingredients
- 2 cups orange juice
- 1/3 cup honey
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 cups fresh cream
- 2 cups fresh whole milk
- 4 drops organic sweet orange essential oil (or 1/4 tsp orange extract)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Stir 1/3 cup honey into 2 cups orange juice.
- Pour the mixture of juice and honey into a heavy-bottomed sauce pan and heat it over a medium flame until reduced by half.
- Once the mixture of honey and orange juice has been reduced by half to a viscous syrup, remove it from the heat and allow it to cool to room temperature.
- Whisk four egg yolks, two cups fresh cream and two cups fresh whole milk with organic sweet orange essential oil or orange extract and one teaspoon vanilla extract. Continue whisking until all the ingredients are very well combined.
- Whisk the mixture of honey and orange juice into the mixture of eggs, cream and milk.
- Pour the creamsicle mixture into your popsicle molds and freeze until solid, at least twelve hours.
I’ve had good success using buttermilk as a base with orange.
that sounds amazing. buttermilk!
oh yummyyyyy!
Jana
These sound fabulous! I love creamsicles.
Yum! Sounds delicious!!
i make all our Popsicles too! all of my childs friends want OUR popsicles, not the ones others buy from the store!
They are so YUMMY! This recipe sounds wonderful. thanks for sharing! 
http://www.GettingRealWithFood.blogspot.com
yum! How many does one recipe make? I’d like to know if I need to double it for my crew.
Perfect!!! I was just about to go looking for some good popsicle ideas for my 4yo and I to make together, and here they are! I am dairy free at the moment (due to nursing babes reaction) so I’m subbing coconut milk for the milk/cream. Hoping its yum!
Sounds AWESOME! One question though – what if we don’t have the essential oil/orange extract? I need to go check my EO stash, but I think the orange I might have is probably not organic… Not sure I’d want to eat it.
Kelly, the coconut milk sounds like a great idea too!
Thank you for this blog – you are an inspiration!
Just bought my popsicle molds!
I was thinking you could probably substitute orange zest for orange extract. I bet it would work great.
Melissa -
I also answered you on FB, but just in case anyone has the same question: do what Ann Marie suggests and substitute orange zest. When I did grapefruit creamsicles I used the zest and it gave kind of a funky texture (you can strain them out, too), and my husband and kid didn’t care for it but I liked it.
Kelly -
I think coconut milk is a *great* option. I’m working on a coconut-lime version.
Leslie -
The recipe makes between 10 and 12 servings in dixie cups, filled with plenty of head-space. I guess the total yield is dependent on your molds.
Oh my gosh! I was just thinking about this the other day. Luckily I have some fresh cream from the farm and fresh squeezed (not pasteurized) OJ from Whole Foods. Score. Thanks for sharing. I may whip it up in my ice cream maker and make it into ice cream or do the dixie cup thing like you mentioned. When I was little I used to freeze Sprite soda and then hack away at it with a spoon. This is so much better!
Mmm orange creamsicles were always a favorite when I was a kid. I don’t have orange juice on hand but I do have several lbs of fresh strawberries. I’ll have to give it a try. Can’t imagine kids turning up their nose and strawberry creamsicles.
I thought honey got bitter when you cooked it like that?
Jenny- Now I’m singing “put the lime in the coconut and mix um both up….” HA! Those sound fantastic, too!
Penny- I’ve made strawberry “creamcicles” using coconut milk and strawberries before- not following Jennys recipe though so the strawberry flavor was not very concentrated and not real sweet. My 4yo ate them anyway because they were pink
but I would definitely think that mashing/cooking down the strawberies some would help!
These look great . I am not even a fan of creamsicles, but these look, well lovely and creamy – must be that cream and raw egg yolk. We have been making all sorts of different kefir based ice pops this summer and they are wonderful!
we have goats so have the milk but no cream i think we will use coconut milk for the cream and make lemon coconut. love to figure out new ways to use what we have on hand!
this sounds even easier then sorbet
Those look so very very good. My wife and daughter are crazy about ice cream and popsicles, and this looks like a luscious and wholesome alternative. Will definitely be trying to make these.
ooh this was my favorite as a kid! but these are much better, can’t wait to make them
Yum, I haven’t tried making this with egg yolks before but it looks really good. If you won’t mind I’d love to guide Foodista readers to this post.Just add the foodista widget to the end of this post and it’s all set, Thanks!
Made these yesterday. They were a hit with everyone who tried them!
i’ve been making my son homemade “pocals” (as he calls them) all summer, and i’m anzious to try these. they sound delicious!
You’ll love these, Evie. And so will your little guy. They are crazy good. I’m working on a fudgsicle next.
How do you keep the milk from curdling?
Make it exactly according to recipe directions and don’t sit around and wait before freezing it. I’ve made the recipe about three or four times and never had an issue with curdling.
Hi and thankyou for this terrific recipe! We are really enjoying these pops. My three year old loves them and they are making a great reinforcing treat… Here, eat this broccoli, if you dont, no popsicle!!!
mama like.
Anyone know if this can be made with a milk alternative, like Hemp Milk or soymilk?
Oh wow. I am really excited to try these at home! I don’t have orange essential oil either and I don’t want to wait for an online order from Young Living oils. I’m wondering if I throw the organic oranges I have in my fridge in the juicer if the zest would be strong enough for flavour. You figure this will give the popsicles a funny pulpy texture? My 2 year old is willing to try all my experimental concotions but my husband not so much.
Thanks for taking a childhood favorite and making it wholesome! This will be a huge hit at out house this summer.
Made these yesterday. Substituted half of the cream with coconut cream. We’re loving them today. Thanks again!
I am SO doing this soon! I found some neat silicone molds on amazon that would make these more like the dreaded sugar filled go-gurts that every kid likes frozen. Thanks for the recipe!
To Teri~We have goats too ; ) I’m making the reipe (so excited!!!) as we speak. We make buttermilk from goat’s milk, which I think will be a fine substitute for the cream (in addition to using goat’s milk in place of whole cow’s).
My 3-year old daughter was bugging me for popsicles and I had just bought freshly squeezed orange juice and fresh raw cream at the farmer’s market, so I could not resist this recipe! We made them last night and we each had one for breakfast just now. They are INCREDIBLE. My little one will not eat egg yolks when she SEES them on the plate, so this is a great way to get them into her. Very grateful for a popsicle that does that! For us, the quantity was pretty massive — it made 8 full-size popsicles in molds and with the leftover I filled 2 full-sized ice cube trays. So I had 8 popsicles and 32 ice cube-sized “toothpick” popsicles. I think for larger broods the recipe size is fine but for smaller families (1 or 2 kids) I would recommend halving the recipe. So yummy!
Our home-made frozen treats were stumbled upon by my own mother, some 25 years ago. My then four-year-old daughter had misheard the name “dreamsicles”, and dubbed them “grit-singles”. They are dead-simple, combining 24 ounces of plain, organic yogourt with one tin of (thawed) organic orange juice concentrate. They take awhile to freeze, but are worth the wait; tart and sweet, with no added honey or syrup.
Hi, I tired to read all the comments to see if this question was answered before but what do you think about making this recipe with homemade kefir instead of milk. My son can eat kefir but not milk and I bet he would love these.
What size Dixie cups are those? The 3 oz or 5 oz? Thanks!!
I am wondering if the egg yolk is raw? We have eggs from a farm but should I use pasturized eggs? THANKS!!
In the description above the recipe Jenny talks about the eggs, and specifies using raw egg yolks
HI, Has anyone experimented with plain kefir as a base for these? Thanks!
You have the best recipes. Period. I come here every time I need to make something and I need it to taste good and not make us sick! Thank you!
These sound fierce! I saw a version super similar on chucks day off. (cooking channel) I never got around to trying them, didn’t think the kids would dig it. I’m so trying it soon!
I made this recipe…it has a funky flavor….I think using sugar instead of honey might help but not sure. I was disappointed, it tasted nothing like a creamsicle…:(
We have a laden orange tree and eggs from our free range hens so will definitely try these. They sound delicious.
I make chocolate/banana popsicles for my grandson. 250g chopped frozen banana, 1 x 400ml can of coconut cream, 1 heaped teaspoon cocoa powder dissolved in approx 2 tablespoons hot water. Blend all together. I use my hand held stick blender. Makes 8 popsicles.
I will make the next lot with the raw eggs. The popsicles would probably be even creamier.
I made these for memorial day and they came out very ice-y. I was hoping for more of a creamy texture. Was it me or is that the recipe?