As
a kid, summertime consisted of the beach, riding bikes, catching
fireflies, and eating popsicles. As long as you have popsicle sticks,
and a freezer, making your own popsicles is pretty simple. I found some
recipes to appeal to any type taste, including fruity, coffee, or even
chocolate based flavors. You can also find popsicle molds at most places
like Target, or Walmart. Basically you just whip up one of these
mixtures spoon into the mold.
*If you don't have a mold, you can make a thicker mixture, place wax
paper on a plate or tray lay out the sticks and spoon mixture onto the
stick. Lay flat and let freeze.
Now eat up and enjoy your very own homemade popsicles! *They taste so much better than store bought ones too.
Fruit-Based Popsicles
Piña Colada: Puree pineapple chunks with coconut milk, sugar to taste, a little nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla.
Blueberry: Puree blueberries with just enough water to make the mixture pourable, a little pepper, ground allspice and sugar to taste.
Peanut Butter-Banana: Puree bananas with a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter, milk and a little vanilla.
Peaches and Cream: Puree
peeled fresh or canned peaches along with sugar to taste, some water, a
little half-and-half, a pinch of salt and a touch of lemon juice.
Watermelon-Chocolate Chip: Puree several cups of watermelon. Fold in mini chocolate chips and spoon into popsicles molds.
Creamy Banana: Puree
bananas with a splash of lime juice and enough milk to make it thick
but pourable. Add a little chopped banana for texture and add sugar to
taste.
Cranberry-Orange: Puree canned cranberry
sauce with enough orange juice to thin mixture to a thick pouring
consistency. Add sugar and ground ginger to taste.
Tamarind: Combine
about 2 cups of tamarind pulp (with pits) with 4 cups of water and
simmer until the pulp has separated from the pits and the mixture is
flavorful. Add sugar to taste and push through a sieve; discard pits.
Strawberry-Raspberry Yogurt: Puree
strawberries with seedless raspberry jam until smooth. Add plain
low-fat yogurt, vanilla, and sugar to taste and whirl until combined.
Mango-Chile: Puree fresh mango with a little lime juice, a touch of chipotle chile powder and a pinch of salt.
Pineapple: Puree chunks of pineapple (fresh or canned) with pineapple juice, a little grated fresh ginger, lime juice, and sugar to taste.
Sour Cherry Crisp: Puree
a couple of cups of pitted fresh or canned sour cherries with light
brown sugar to taste, a few tablespoons of toasted oats (toasted in a
350 degree F oven for 10 minutes), a little ground allspice, a touch of
ground cloves, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract and enough orange juice
to thin.
Juice-Based Popsicles
Grapefruit-Grenadine: Combine pink grapefruit juice with honey to taste, and grenadine to give a nice blush.
Orange Julius: Combine orange juice, just enough half-and-half to make it creamy, vanilla, and sugar to taste.
Spiced Carrot Cake: Gently
heat carrot juice and add sugar to taste, stirring until the sugar has
dissolved. Stir in some ground ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, and a pinch
of salt.
Key Lime Pie: Combine sweetened condensed milk, a little grated lime zest, lime juice, and a little vanilla extract.
Lemonade: Prepare your favorite lemonade making it extra strong; pour into popsicle molds and freeze.
Pomegranate Sangria: Stir together pomegranate juice, orange juice and a little lime juice. Add sugar if needed.
Coffee And Chocolate Popsicles
Mocha: Prepare hot cocoa using 2 heaping teaspoons
of unsweetened cocoa powder and 2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate to 1
cup of hot coffee; sweeten to taste with brown sugar. Add a splash of
milk and freeze.
Chocolate Malt: Melt a 1/2 cup of semisweet chocolate in a cup of milk. Add a tablespoon or two of malted milk powder and freeze.
Adventurous Popsicles
Cucumber-Mint: Combine 3 cups of peeled and seeded
cucumber, 1/2 cup sugar, 3 to 4 tablespoons of lime juice and 2/3 cup
fresh mint leaves and puree. Push through a strainer and freeze.
Margarita: Combine lime juice, tequila, agave nectar to taste and a little orange juice.
Hibiscus: Steep several red zinger tea bags in boiling water until flavorful. Add sugar to taste, stirring until dissolved.
Lemon-Lavender Buttermilk: Make
a sugar syrup of 1/3 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons water and 1/4 teaspoon
lavender; heat just until sugar has melted. Let steep until cold. Strain
and stir in 3 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 cup buttermilk.
Toasted Coconut: Gently
warm coconut milk, add lemon, orange, and lime zest, cover and steep
until cool. Meanwhile in a 350 degree F oven toast angel flake coconut
until golden brown. Strain and remove zest from coconut milk, then stir
in toasted coconut and sugar to taste.
Rice Pudding: Puree some cooked white rice with sweetened rice milk. Add a little cinnamon and nutmeg, pour into popsicle molds and freeze.
Thanksgiving Pops: Place
a can of pumpkin puree in a blender along with light brown sugar to
taste, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, a touch of cloves and enough
milk to make a pourable mixture,
Vanilla-Caramel Pops: Combine
2/3 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a skillet and cook over
low heat until sugar has caramelized. Off heat add 2 cups milk (be
careful, it will sputter). Return to heat and stir until sugar has
melted. Stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and freeze.
Butter-Pecan: Saute
3/4 cup of chopped pecans in 3 tablespoons butter until golden brown
and fragrant. Add a couple of cups of milk and light brown sugar to
taste and heat just until warm. Cover and let sit 30 minutes. Push
through a strainer, stir in a teaspoon of vanilla extract and freeze.
Gingerale: Thinly
slice enough fresh ginger to get 2 cups (no need to peel). Cook in 4
cups of water until nice and spicy. Add sugar to taste, and bring to a
boil. Strain and freeze.
