In a small bowl or measuring glass, combine the strained berry puree, 1/4 cup simple syrup, and water with half the lemon zest and 2 tablespoons lemon juice.

In the pitcher of your blender (you could also use a mixer), combine the buttermilk, cream cheese, 5 tablespoons simple syrup, and the remaining lemon zest and juice.

To make stripes, pour 1 - 2 tablespoons of the berry mixture into the bottom of each mold and freeze for an hour. Next, add a layer of the buttermilk mixture and freeze for another hour. Repeat, until you’ve used all of both. Add the popsicle sticks after the second layer has set up a bit. Keep the berry puree and buttermilk mixtures in the fridge while the layers cure. Once popsicle molds are full, freeze popsicles overnight for a solid cure. I also found that the popsicles got even colder when frozen outside of their molds. Finally, I froze my popsicles on a tilt to achieve diagonal stripes, so give that a try if you’d like.

If stripes aren’t your thing, divide the berry mixture between the molds, freeze for 30 minutes, pour in the buttermilk mixture, add the sticks, and freeze overnight.