Avocado and Orange Milk Popsicle with Cashew

I had around 50g of milk left in my fridge, and instead of just drinking it, I turned it into a popsicle with an avocado, a few cashews, and an orange, and ate that as a snack.

It was creamy and thick, better than most frozen things I’ve picked up from shops. 

Before you start, sort the sugar out first: use half a teaspoon for this amount of milk, not a full one. I added a full tablespoon, and it came out too sweet, because the orange brings its own sweetness that stacks on top of whatever you put in.

Ingredients

• 50g milk
• 1/2 tsp sugar (more on this in the sweetness section below)
• 2 to 3 cashews, finely crushed
• 1 tbsp avocado flesh, scooped out
• 1 orange segment (or just the juice from it, squeezed in)

Heat the Milk with Sugar First, Then Let It Cool

Pour the milk into a small pot and add the sugar, and heat on a low flame, stirring once or twice, until the sugar dissolves completely and the milk is hot. 

Take it off the gas and set it aside to cool down to room temperature.

You don’t wanna skip this cooling step, because if you add the avocado to warm milk, it will change the texture, and you don’t want that. 

You have to wait until the milk feels neutral to the touch before you add other ingredients.

While the milk cools, crush the cashews. Since you’re only working with two or three, a small pestle does this better than a grinder, which isn’t practical for such a small amount. 

Crush them as finely as you can so they distribute evenly through the popsicle.

Add the Cashews, Avocado, and Orange to the Cooled Milk

Once the milk is fully cooled, add the crushed cashews and stir them in, and then scoop out one tablespoon of avocado and add that too. 

Mix well until the avocado is fully broken down into the milk. 

The mixture will get thicker and richer as the avocado blends in, and that’s what you want, because avocado’s fat will give a better finish to the popsicle, which is a creamy texture.

For the orange, take one segment and peel away as much of the white membrane as you can. 

Orange segments have a lot of fiber in them, and if you don’t remove it, you’ll get it in the popsicles.

I didn’t do it, but I recommend you squeeze the juice from the segment into the mixture and skip the pulp.

I used the whole segment and got fiber in mine, which wasn’t a problem, but it was a little weird; in fact, I spit them out whenever they were coming into my mouth.

Besides this, lemon is a good substitute too if that’s what you have, though it will make the popsicle sharper and more sour, so adjust the sugar if you go that way.

Pour Into the Mold and Freeze for Six Hours

Give the mixture one final stir to make sure everything is properly distributed, then pour it into your popsicle mold. 

Leave a small gap at the top since the liquid expands as it freezes; put the stick in, seal the mold if it has a lid, and put it in the freezer.

Freeze for at least six hours. To unmold it, hold the mold in a bowl of water for about 30 to 40 seconds and give it a gentle shake; your popsicle will loosen from the sides and will come out easily. 

Note: Don’t pull it straight out without doing this first, because it will stick and break.

What This Popsicle Tastes Like

I really liked the texture of this avocado orange ice cream. It was quite thick and creamy, and the most important thing is that it was healthy too. 

As I often tell my mom to bring popsicles from the market, or sometimes I order them myself, they have a lot of sugar, and sometimes they also contain palm oil. I didn’t add anything like that to this popsicle.

And my popsicle isn’t like you’ll get the taste of any one particular ingredient too strongly. 

Although I did make one mistake by adding too much sugar, I could taste that quite a lot, but I’ve already told you that you should keep the sugar lower. And yes, the orange fibers were coming into my mouth too, so I’ve also told you to use orange juice instead.

If I had to compare it with a popsicle that we buy outside, I’d describe this as creamy, rich, and less sweet. In fact, I’ll make this again because I tried it for the first time with leftover milk. 

But it turned out quite good, and it was an experiment. Many times I experiment, and it fails, so I don’t share them. But I shared this one because it was really good.

If you want, you can try adding a slightly different flavor to it, like adding some sour lemon. The orange I used was sweet; I checked three oranges and then picked the sweet one.

Getting the Sweetness and Flavor Right Before You Freeze

The correct sugar amount in this popsicle is more important than in most desserts, because cold temperatures dull sweetness and you tend to compensate with more sugar than is actually needed. 

Half a teaspoon in 50 grams of milk sits at a pleasant level once frozen. 

If you’re using a ripe orange, keep in mind that it adds its own sweetness on top of whatever sugar you put in; this combination is one of the reasons why mine came out too sweet. 

Before you pour the mixture into the mold, taste it and aim for it to be a little less sweet than you’d want, because once frozen it will taste sweeter than it does at room temperature.

Other Flavor Combinations That Work With This Base

Use Mango:

The avocado and milk base takes different fruit and nut combinations well; besides this, you can use mango instead of orange, and it pairs with avocado even more naturally because both are rich. 

Use about one to two tablespoons of mango flesh and taste before freezing. 

Try Banana & Strawberry:

Banana is another option; you can blend half a small banana into the milk. It’ll make the popsicle thicker and sweeter, so drop the added sugar to a pinch if you go that way. 

Strawberry works too, though the flavor is more delicate and you’d need three or four berries for it to come through properly against the avocado.

Dry Fruits Version:

For the nut, almonds work the same way as cashews and add a little earthier flavor. 

Pistachios are one of my favorite dry fruits; you can try that because their flavor pairs naturally with both avocado and citrus, and that combination shows up in traditional frozen desserts too, so you’ll get that vibe.

If you want to skip the nut, your popsicle will still set and taste good; it will just lose the faint richness the cashews add. 

Make it Chocolatey:

If you want to go in a different direction altogether, use half a teaspoon of cocoa powder and stir that into the milk in place of the orange. 

It makes a chocolate avocado version.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make more than one popsicle at a time?

Of course, you have to scale the ingredients up by however many popsicles your mold fits. 

Keep the same ratios: for every 50 grams of milk, use 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, one tablespoon of avocado, 2 to 3 cashews, and one orange segment. 

The mixing and freezing process will be the same, as I shared.

Can I use plant-based milk instead of dairy?

Hmm, yes, coconut milk is the best option here because its fat content is close to dairy, and it adds its own richness that works with the avocado. 

Oat milk and almond milk both have lower fat content, so your popsicle will be less creamy than the dairy version but will still set and taste good. However, avoid rice milk for this because it’s too thin.

Does the avocado have to be fully ripe?

Yeah, that’s good; a ripe avocado blends into the milk very well and adds the most creaminess. 

On the other hand, an underripe one stays chunky and doesn’t incorporate as well, which can leave small pieces in the popsicle instead of blending through evenly. 

If the avocado you have isn’t ripe yet, leave it at room temperature for a day or two, then use it later.

Can I make this without a popsicle mold?

Yes, you have to pour the mixture into a small cup or glass instead and push a stick into it before freezing. 

The shape will be different, but the taste will remain similar. 

An ice cube tray also works if you want smaller pieces, and those freeze faster than a full popsicle because of the smaller volume. 

Either way, the unmolding trick will be applied: a brief dip in water to loosen it from whatever container you used.

How long does this keep in the freezer?

It keeps well for up to two weeks; after that, the surface will develop an icy, grainy texture, and it’ll lose the smooth creaminess it has when fresh.

If you’ve already taken it out of the mold, wrap it in plastic wrap to protect it, but I recommend you make it fresh.