Popsicles Galore Recipes. All Variations

Popsicles Galore!

Yay! They are for everyone, big and small! Anytime, anywhere!

You don’t need to be a kid or find yourself in torrid summer temperatures to enjoy them. I make popsicles year round. While I find homemade ice cream and ice cream makers an imposition, popsicles are not trouble at all.

The beauty about making popsicles at home is that you have complete control of what you put in. Especially the sugar. Mine are naturally sweetened with fruit juice. Besides, they are much more delicious and much more affordable than their commercial counterparts!

The Perfect Healthy Treat!

Although I am including recipes, mix and match and get your mixtures just as you like them!

Grownup popsicles: Dress them up!

Spike your mixture with a good splash or wine or even booze. Likewise, add aromatic herbs

I make my popsicles in my Vitamix.

Seriously: Can I interest you in the purchase of a Vitamix? Expensive, yes, as blenders go, but an incomparable investment. It’s a beast! No high power blender comes close. When I saw with my own eyes what a Vitamix could do, I stopped using a juicer. With the Vitamix, you throw everything in, and end up with a perfect shake or smoothie without leaving any part of your food behind.

And here’s another magical thing with the Vitamix:

Say you spotted a few veggies and herbs in your fridge, not enough to make a batch of anything much out of them. No problem: Throw them in the Vitamix and let it churn them for a good few minutes, pretty soon you will have a blender full of HOT soup, ready to enjoy right on the spot, no cooking whatsoever!

No Vitamix?
No problem! Now that I sang the praises of the Vitamix, let me still assure you that if you don’t have one, a high quality food processor or blender will be a respectable second choice.

Make your popsicles with frozen fruit!

Not only because frozen fruit gives my popsicles a huge head start, reducing the freezing time by more than half, but because frozen fruit is ideally ripe and sweet, clean and ready whenever you are. There is no end of frozen fruit in the frozen section of your supermarket: berries, pineapple, mango, peaches, cherries, rhubarb, to name just a few.

Popsicle Molds

I used to obsess about the best popsicle molds, and bought dozens of them, but never found the ideal one: some of them require that you actually detach the mold, so the mold almost always gets lost;  I also use small hot cups, like espresso cups, plant the popsicle sticks in the center and call it a day. You can even use an oversize ice cube tray. These molds option is one of my favorite!

Creamy popsicles: Go bananas!

Bananas will give you the perfect suspension and smooth texture. They are very sweet and creamy, therefore you need very little more to sweeten your popsicles. So don’t do anything rash like throwing your very ripe bananas away, Gd Forbid. Freeze them! when you are ready to use them, run warm water over them, the peel will come right off.

Another way to get creamy popsicles is, canned coconut milk.

With either addition, You will get something luscious, between ices and ice cream.

Some preliminary recommendations:

– Do not thaw any of the fruit, throw the frozen fruit right in your blender.
– Blend your ingredients until they are very smooth. If you like it more texture, save some of the berries or other small fruit chunks and fold them into your blended mixture. Pour your mixture into popsicle molds or small cups. Insert the popsicle stick carefully in the center of each mold. Depending on the size of your molds, you will get between 10 and 14 popsicles.
– Start by throwing in your blender your liquid ingredients, then put in the frozen fruit on top. The bottom liquid ingredients will propel the top frozen ingredients very easily

Here are a few winning popsicles combos:

Depending on the size of your mold, you will get 16 to 24 popsicles.

• RED

2 cups frozen berries and/or cherries, in any combination,
2 very ripe frozen bananas, or 1 can coconut milk, optional, for creamy popsicles
1 cup natural pomegranate or cranberry juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Going all out? Jazz up the mixture with 3 tablespoons creme de cassis, and a few mint or basil leaves. Replace some of the juice  with red wine.

• YELLOW

  
  2 cups frozen pineapple chunks
  2 very ripe frozen bananas, or 1 can coconut milk, optional, for creamy popsicles
  1 cup pineapple juice
  2 tablespoons lemon juice
  Going all out? Jazz up the mixture with 3 tablespoons dark rum, a good pinch ground white pepper. Replace some of the juice with white wine.

• ORANGE

  

2 cups frozen mango, peaches or papaya chunks

2 very ripe frozen bananas, or 1 can coconut milk, optional, for creamy popsicles
1 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Going all out? Jazz up the mixture with 3 tablespoons tequila, grated ginger, pinch cayenne.

• GREEN

  
  2 cups frozen grapes and/or kiwis
  2 very ripe frozen bananas, optional, for creamy popsicles
  1 cup natural white grape juice or lychee juice
  2 tablespoons lemon juice.
  Going all out? Jazz up the mixture with 3 tablespoons vodka or slivovitz, 1 teaspoon matcha, a few rosemary leaves. Replace some of the juice with sake.

OK. Now make your own popsicles!

After this little popsicles crash course, you will be on your way to becoming a popsicles pro! Please be a pal and share what crazy combos you come up with, using the tried and true ratios suggested above and using any variations that appeal to you: other frozen fruit, other liquors, other herbs, other spices. Just remember as always: Good stuff goes in, great stuff comes out!