Let there be ice pops.

Right around this time of year, Yang always gets these intense midnight cravings for a “cold treat.” This would be a good excuse to put those ice pop molds we bought last year to good use. So anticipation of future cravings (and hopefully warmer weather), we are compiling a list of ideas for ice pops. Here are a few to start:

Berry Banana Yogurt Popsicles
Banana, any kind of berry, vanilla yogurt, honey or sugar to sweeten

Mango/Coconut Pineapple Popsicles
Mango chunks and/or pineapple chunks, coconut milk, small bit of lime juice, sugar or agave nectar to sweeten

Strawberry Sour Cream Popsicles
Strawberries and sour cream (roughly 3:1 proportion), lemon juice, and sugar or agave nectar to sweeten

Cherry Almond Vanilla Popsicles
Cherries, vanilla yogurt, apple juice, honey, and a few drops of almond extract

Honeydew Lime Popsicles
Honeydew melon, lime juice, sugar or agave nectar to sweeten

Tea Popsicles (!!)
Any kind of tea that would taste good iced and brewed really strongly, made with extra honey or sugar mixed in. Last year we made matcha tea popsicles that were good, with heavy cream mixed in, except I think I whipped the mixture a bit too hard and the frozen result was kind of… foamy. Ever eaten frozen foam? It’s weird.

Mojito Popsicles
Lime, mint, and sugar. Maybe some strawberries too… oh yeah, that’d be nice. One of my favorite flavor combinations of all time! Too bad I am putting myself on an alcohol diet =( otherwise I imagine you could spike this with some rum, but not too much, or it won’t freeze.

Strawberry Balsamic Popsicles
Strawberries, brown sugar, really high quality balsamic vinegar, apple juice (to hold it all together)

Cheesecake Popsicles
Cream cheese, yogurt, strawberries, sugar

Lavender Lemonade Popsicles
Lavender lemonade… frozen

All of the above are pretty much made by combining all of the ingredients in a blender, blending until smooth, and then pouring into molds, and freezing for ~6 hours, depending on how cold your freezer is. The recipes all ask for extra sugar because stuff tends to taste extra-tart when they are cold (Presumably because the coldness does something to numb the receptors for sweetness? I don’t know.) I’m also told that simmering the ingredients with the sugar beforehand will produce more of a syrupy consistency and, as a result, the pops will be easier to bite into when they’re frozen. We might try this out because every time we made pops before, we ended up with jaw-destroying rocks (of deliciousness nevertheless). The only truly hard part about making popsicles is getting them back out of the mold again, but you can do the hot-water bath trick to melt them a little on the outsides…

Yang is also enamored of the idea of banana pops. You know, where you halve a banana, put a stick in it, dip it in chocolate, and freeze the whole shebang. Actually, we ought to get some bananas tomorrow =) Luckily we are conveniently sandwiched between Stop ā€™nā€™ Shop and Trader Joe’s, both ~2 minutes’ walk away. (Did I mention this apartment rocks?)

Oh man, now I wish it weren’t 1:15 AM. I’d go out right now and get me some popsicle fixings. Yeah.

2 thoughts on “Let there be ice pops.

  1. Did you ever have those milk-sicles in china? i’d imagine a bit of sugar, some milk and honey? this needs experimentation. . . bacon?

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