Cherry Cheesecake Popsicles

Last week I attempted baking some cherry pie filling into a box brownie mix.  The brownies tasted delicious but the texture was all wrong.  All that moisture turned those brownies into more of a heavy cake.  

For a whole week I wondered what to do with the other half a can of that pie filling.  As I was eating a cookie dough popsicle, these cherry cheesecake popsicles hit my brain and I started making them immediately.

In my baking stash I even found some leftover mini graham cracker pie crusts to use.  Cheesecake in any form is a good thing, right?

Please, have a pop.

Cherry Cheesecake Popsicles

Makes 8

-1/2 8 oz pkg cream cheese (4 oz)

-1/4 cup milk
-1/4 cup heavy cream

-1/2 cup powdered sugar

-1/2 tsp vanilla

-1 cup cherry pie filling*

-2 mini Graham cracker crusts**, crumbled into pieces

Blend together cream cheese, milk, heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla until completely smooth.

Add cherry pie filling and pulse several times (for a popsicle that will have chunks of cherries and swirls of color), OR blend for a minute or two until completely smooth (for an evenly colored pop that will have no chunks of fruit). You can stir in the chunks of pie crust now, or you can reserve it to sprinkle on the bottom of each pop.

Pour mixture into 8 popsicle molds. Top with crumbled Graham cracker pie crust pieces if desired, and press down gently.

Insert sticks and freeze overnight or until frozen through.

*If you use a lot of the syrup from the cherry pie filling, your pops will be more icy.  If you strain some of the liquid out and use mostly cherries, your pop will be more creamy.

**You can also just use part of a large crust (you definitely won't need all of it), or even crushed Graham Crackers, or Nilla Wafers.

Note-  When I made these I saved the crust to sprinkle on the bottom of each pop, but when I removed them from the molds I lost quite a bit of it.  I, personally, will just mix the crust chunks in with the cheesecake mixture the next time I make these. Less pretty.  More delicious.