Maraschino-Lemonade Pops

My 6 yr-old was looking through this cookbook and asked if we could make the maraschino-lemonade pops. Yes, my 6 yr-old likes to look at cookbooks, especially creative and fun kid cookbooks like this one. She's gonna be my helper and we can't wait to make these. Cold, refreshing, fruity pops are just what we need for these hot August days.

This recipe is from Favorite Brand Name Silly Snacks by Publications International, Ltd.  This book is an older version.  Here's a newer version on Amazon. 

Ingredients

1 jar (10 ounces) maraschino cherries, drained, juice reserved

8 (3-ounce) paper cups

1 container (12 ounces) frozen pink lemonade concentrate, partially thawed

1/4 cup water

8 wooden pop sticks

Directions

Drain cherries, reserving juice.  Place one whole cherry in each cup. Coarsely chop remaining cherries. Add chopped cherries, reserved cherry juice, lemonade concentrate and water in blender or food processor; cover; blend until smooth. Fill paper cups with equal amounts of cherry mixture.

Freeze 30 to 40 minutes or until very slushy. Place pop stick in center of each cup. Freeze 1 hour or until firm.  To serve, peel off paper cups.

note: Serve immediately after peeling off paper cups---these pops melt very quickly.

Ready, set, go....I had a 16 oz. jar of cherries.  I used 2/3 of it.

First step: a cherry in every cup.

Next: We added the rest of the cherries into the food processor and chopped them.  Then, we added the other ingredients and blended until smooth.

My super-duper helper filled the cups.

Don't forget to put the sticks in when they get slushy (I almost did!).

The Results...

Pucker up!  These are some strong freezer pops!  We thought they were too strong to eat alone.  I diluted mine with some ginger ale and it became quite tasty.

When the freezer pop melts, it leaves the cherry at the bottom of the glass.  It was kinda like a Cherry Limeade from Sonic.  I'm thinking we'll make this again, but use limeade concentrate and dilute it with Sprite to see if it will taste just like a Sonic Cherry Limeade.  Although this didn't turn out as a very good freezer pop, it did end up as a delicious drink.