Root Beer Float Pops

This frothy, spicy pop is inspired by my teenage pre-coffee addiction to root beer floats. Tiny bubbles in the ice cream trigger the formation of the large bubbles of carbon dioxide when combined with root beer. To make these pops solid, you have to cut down on the characteristic foam a bit by carefully lowering the ice cream into the root beer and scooping off any foam that forms on the top.

Directions

1. Pour cold root beer into a pitcher and put it in the freezer for 10 minutes. (This will make it very cold and reduce the ice cream melt factor.)

2. Put a cherry in each mold. Pour some root beer into each mold until it is half full.

3. Gently lower a small scoop of ice cream into each pop mold so it is three-quarters full.

4. Slowly add more root beer until the molds are full. Scoop off the foam with a spoon. Freeze for at least six hours.

5. Remove from the freezer; let stand at room temperature for five minutes before removing the pops from the molds. It’s time for a nostalgic treat!

Tips:

To create the diagonal stripe, tilt the pop during freezing so one corner is lower than the rest of the pop. The root beer and cherries will slide to that corner, creating a colorful stripe.

Variations:

Alternate Soda Ice Pops:

Black Cow Float Pops: Before chilling the root beer in step 1, stir in 1/3 cup chocolate syrup.

Egg Cream Float Pops: Replace the root beer with 2 and 1/2 cups seltzer and 1/3 cup chocolate syrup. When you add the ice cream in step 3, pour in 1 and 1/2 cups milk along with it.

Cream Cooler Float Pops: Replace the root beer with cream soda.