Creamy tahini ice cream swirled with chunks of sweet summer strawberries and flecked with real vanilla bean–these healthy pops are a chilly vegan treat!
You know how I feel about tahini.
Or maybe you don’t, I actually haven’t talked about it in a while.
Long story short–I think it’s weird. Why must it taste so much like dirt?
I mean I know it’s supposed to be sorta bitter, but when I taste it straight from the jar all I can think about is planting flowers. There is a reason sesame seeds themselves are used mostly as a sparsely sprinkled-on garnish that no one actually tastes. I truly think burger buns have it right.
But since I believe it is possible to acquire a taste for just about anything (except spicy food–just no), I bought a jar of this stuff. Because I knew I wanted the last pop of Popsicle Week to be berries + something, and tahini felt right for filling the something spot.
The only non-hummus occasion I can remember eating and actually enjoying tahini was when I made this toffee sauce–the sweetness and salt balance its seedy weirdness perfectly. Which gave me hope that with enough sweet fruity flavors to counter, I could actually make a tahini-inclusive pop for the tahini-skeptical like myself.
So to play it safe and not push the bounds of my tahini tolerance too far, I used a 1 to A LOT ratio of tahini to frozen banana Which turned out to be about 2 not-heaping tablespoons for the entire blender of banana ice cream.
Baby steps. Baby steps.
If you adore tahini like 93% of the world seems to–double, triple, dump the whole jar. Okay maybe just half the jar. Or if you are even more tahini-averse than I am, cashew butter = AMAZE-ing instead. I may have a minor cashew butter obsession though, so actually any nut or seed butter will do. Oooh if you go with peanut butter it would be like a PB&J pop!
Berries. I used fresh strawberries because they were staring me down and drawing me in with their sweet scent the moment I walked into the produce section. In season and on sale–yes please! If the strawberries hadn’t been so persuasive, I probably would’ve opted for blueberries because they are my go-to berry.
Fresh or frozen will work, just defrost and then blend/pulse until you have a chunky berry sauce. You can sweeten with a little bit of maple syrup if your berries are too tart.
Ice cream. Just like the previous pops, these start with a banana ice cream base. To that creaminess I added the tahini (or whatever nut/seed butter you are using) and vanilla bean powder because it felt like a perfect addition to these flavors.
Layering. I started with a few spoonfuls of berry in the bottom of my popsicle molds. Next was the vanilla tahini ice cream and some subtle swirling. At about 3/4 of the way full I added a small dollop of tahini to each pop, because hey I’m trying to embrace the stuff. And then fill them to the tippy top with more ice cream.
Sticks. Freeze. Wiggle out. Devour!
I can’t say I am crazy about tahini by itself yet, but I can tell you I am crazy about these pops.
So Tahini–disgust moving towards acceptance. Maybe.
Creamy vanilla bean tahini ice cream pops with chunks of the sweetest in-season organic strawberries–love em!
And shoutout to Banoffee and Chocolate Almond Sea Salt in case you missed either of those pretty ice cream pops earlier in the week. Or watch all 3 in the making HERE
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Creamy tahini ice cream swirled with chunks of sweet summer strawberries and flecked with real vanilla bean–these healthy pops are a chilly vegan treat!
Ingredients
- 4–5 frozen bananas
- 2–4 tbsp tahini ((or any nut/seed butter))
- 1/2 tsp vanilla bean powder ((or vanilla extract))
- 1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries ((or your favorite berry))
- Optional: 1-2 tbsp maple syrup if your berries are too tart
Instructions
- If using frozen berries, defrost them. Blend/pulse the berries to a chunky sauce consistency. Taste and add the maple syrup if desired. Set aside.
- Blend the frozen bananas, tahini, and vanilla bean powder until creamy. Add more/less tahini to your taste.
- Fill each popsicle with a couple of tablespoons of the berry mixture.
- Next add the tahini ice cream and gently swirl.
- When the pops are about 3/4 full, add a small spoonful of tahini and swirl.
- Continue filling to the top with ice cream.
- Insert the sticks and freeze overnight.
- The following day, carefully remove the pops from the molds. Enjoy!
Notes
This is the popsicle mold I used here. If you don’t have a popsicle mold, paper cups work too! Just freeze for about 30-60 minutes and then insert the sticks.
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I’m super jealous of the contents of your freezer this week!! So many goodies.
I think you probably know how I feel about tahini…. sooo basically I’m feeling these on a spiritual level. Have you tried mixing tahini with maple syrup?! It’s a gamechanger!!
Haha it’s not as exciting as you might think in my freezer, most of the pops melted during photoshoots and had to be eaten with a spoon asap 😀 “…spiritual level” lol One day I’ll get there too! Oooh no I have not…will do! Thanks lovely <3
You are so hilarious. “Spicy food, just no”! LOL! Oh girl, I live for spicy food. If it ain’t spicy, it’s boring…ok, not entirely, but I really love bold flavors and spicy, but I know many people who don’t. We all have our thing. But, I’m totally with you on the tahini thing…it’s pretty bitter and just ODD tasting on it’s own. I have found though that certain brands vary greatly. The brand that has the BEST taste an is incomparable to others, is Dastony tahini. It is light, fresh, raw and not that overpowering bitterness. BUT, it’s expensive, so I don’t buy it often. Plus, since I am adding tahini in with other ingredients, it’s not too big of a deal. I’m in love with how you added it to theses strawberry popsicles. I add tahini in ice cream, lemon desserts, dressing, alfredo, you name it. It’s creamy factor and nut-free aspect is such a great bonus for so many dishes. You, yet again, nailed another popsicle! All hail to the popsicle queen, lol!
I blame my mom 100% for the spicy food thing, she’s even worse than me about bold flavors (heck just flavor in general, the woman won’t eat ranch dressing!) so spicy was pretty much non-existent in my house growing up. Believe it or not I’ve actually gotten better…I can handle mild salsa now lol But come to think of it, an ice cream popsicle would be the perfect cold/milky/creamy food to have on hand after consuming something super spicy. Dastony–I will try that one next time! That’s the brand with the little jars like rawtella, isn’t it? Thanks for the rec though 🙂 In dressings and sauces I don’t mind it when there are lots of other flavors going on, but the bitterness is more apparent in sweet things. Like I said, I really do think it’s possible to get used to most anything…and with chocolate always helps 😀 Lol sooooo ready to post some non-popsicle things soon!
You promised frozen deliciousness/popsicle goodness and you SO delivered!! You know I’ve totally been drooling over your Banoffee pops, like all week, right? Meanwhile, who knew you didn’t like tahini? As your bestie, I now feel a tad (make that A LOT) embarrassed that I didn’t know this! I’mma just return the two large jars of tahini that I got in prep for our reunion. Ahem. Okay, now I must say that I think it’s awesome that you are always open to trying new things. Then, maybe not liking it, then trying it again. Open-mindedness: totally one of your BEST features. 🙂 Also, this: “1 to A LOT ratio of tahini to frozen banana” LOLOLOL. Take all the baby steps you need, my dear lady bird. 🙂 Can’t wait to see what else you have in store for us this summer! P.S. I am now just weirdly noticing that you LOVE frozen treats as much as I do. Bestie connection? I think so!! <3 <3
Just trade those jars for two even larger ones of chocolate chips (because chips don’t pack into a jar as compactly so by weight you deserve more, of course) so we can make loads of batches of your perfect chocolate chip fluffy amazing oat cookies and sandwich them with all the ice cream, kay? Or heck, I’d even stick a popsicle between two cookies…I’m not picky. Frozen treats every day all day in the summer months🤗 Yep, it’s the bestie connection indeed❤️ xo
You really are turning everything into ice cream 😀 But you always choose the right flavor combinations!
It looks so perfect,yum! 🙂
Lol oh just you wait 😀 Summer in Florida is hot practically 6 months long so lots of ice cream is necessary! Thanks Pamela
OMG, I’m a new tahini lover and these popsicles look perfect! I didn’t like tahini much until a couple of weeks ago when I made a tahini dressing – and then – bam. Now I like tahini. Nope. Love it. It’s crazy how we can get used to ingredients we didn’t like before. It was the same with olives and nori with me! And I’ve built up quite a spiciness level I can tolerate thanks to all the Indian food I’ve been eating 😀
Oh really!? So maybe dressing is the tahini gateway I’ve been searching for haha 😀 I actually have had some lemon-y tahini dressings in the past that I really like, it works. Olives–I need to work on those too, still weird me out. And don’t even get me started on spicy things🙈
Is it possible to replace the strawberries with mango?
Sure! Mango and tahini sounds delicious together. Enjoy!
Will it be the same if I use non-frozen bananas? My blender was working real hard until finally getting the frozen ones done :-(((
You can use fresh bananas, but they will turn out much icier in the end unfortunately. The colder the mix starts the less time for ice crystals to form, that’s why the frozen bananas are best. Maybe just try letting the frozen bananas thaw for a bit longer to make it easier on your blender! Good luck 🙂
I’ve cut the bananas to pieces before freezing. Hopefully it’ll help the blender.
Can you tell me what’s the equivalent to 1 frozen banana in grams / cups so I can measure how much to use for the recipes?
It will vary slightly with size, but one medium frozen banana (without the peel, of course) is about 115-120g. Good luck!