Popsicles

[blue_dolphin]

4 hours ago, Shelby said:

I always sit here and wish I was a recipient of your pops.

Too bad you are so far away - I'd love to share them and they are a great little treat when it's hot out.  

 

Thanks also for the handwriting compliments!  An ultra-fine tip Sharpie (and many years of experience labeling microscope slides and tiny micro centrifuge tubes) is just the ticket!  Due to the generosity of the peach guys at the farmers market, I had more peach pops than I could keep track of so I decided I should start labeling them.  Makes it easier when I give them away, too.  

 

Today's pops are Blueberry & Corn:

A riff on the Blackberry & Corn pops from People's Pops that I've made before. 

Edited August 13, 2018 by blue_dolphin (log)

[blue_dolphin]

Finally got around to trying this recipe for Mexican Street-Corn Paletas (Corn, Sour Cream and Lime Popsicles) that appeared in the NYT a few years ago. 

Edited to add a link to this non-NYT version of the recipe: Mexican Street-Corn Paletas

These are OK but not great, to my taste anyway.  

I liked the slightly chewy texture of the toasted corn kernels in the creamy corn base. The cooked corn/milk/serrano chile/lime mixture tasted delicious after I puréed it.  Still warm, I thought it could be a delicious soup so I had great expectations.  I'm not sure the additional steeping time with the corncobs did that much as freezing tends to mute the flavors and that's probably the source of my disappointment - the corn flavor was so much more muted in the frozen pops than in the still-warm purée.  The sour cream that's blended into the mix doesn't really come through as a separate flavor.  If I were to make these again, I'd leave the sour cream out and barely swirl some crema into the mix, drizzling some into the molds so it stays a little separate as in the various fruit & cream pops I've made. 

Edited August 13, 2018 by blue_dolphin (log)

[blue_dolphin]

Roasted plum & pluot:

The deep color layer is from Santa Rosa plums and the lighter pink is made from Flavor Jewel pluots.

 

I asked the peach guys at the farmers market what kind of pops they wanted for this week and Peaches & Cream was requested

These were made from Elegant Lady peaches which didn't have as deep a blush on the skin or the amount of red flesh as last week's July Flame. 

 

[Smithy]

What a marvelous way to celebrate the variety of peaches you have out there! I love the different colors.

 

Have you tried nectarines? If so, what differences did you notice, if any?

[blue_dolphin]

15 hours ago, Smithy said:

What a marvelous way to celebrate the variety of peaches you have out there! I love the different colors.

 

Have you tried nectarines? If so, what differences did you notice, if any?

 

I haven't tried nectarine pops!  Maybe I will pick some up from the farmers market today.  My guess is that there's probably as much difference between some of the different peach varieties and roasted vs unroasted as between peaches and nectarines but I should try them before drawing that conclusion.

 

The cucumber, lime & ginger, watermelon & cucumber, blueberry & corn and spicy corn pops all went to my local farm stand yesterday.  I wasn't sure how the spicy corn would go over but they were a hit with at least 2 of the workers and I got lots of positive feedback on last week's offerings. 

 

I used the recipe for the Fig and Ricotta Cheesecake pops that I made last year to make these Peach Cheesecake pops:

Even though I upped the ricotta and decreased the sweetened condensed milk, based on last year's experience, the "cheesecake" mix was still very liquid.  It worked well to flow around the large slices of figs in the molds in the original recipe but I wanted to swirl a peach purée into these.  The thick fruit and thin cheesecake mixtures were difficult to swirl in the molds, especially since I'd put thin slices of peach on both sides that I didn't want to dislodge.

 

I think these are too melty for me to take to the peach guys at the farmers market unless I go buy dry ice to pack them in so I have another batch in the freezer with mostly peach purée, blended with a smaller amount of cheesecake mix and chunks of fresh peach. 

[blue_dolphin]

Peach Cheesecake pops v 1.1

I was going for something like the pop on the left, with the ricotta "cheesecake" mixture swirled into roasted peach purée with fresh peach chunks.  Clearly, I need to work on my pop to pop variability  so more work is needed. The first version was more cheesecake-like.  These are OK but not that different from a peaches & cream pop.

 

I used up the rest of the sweetened condensed milk from that cheesecake mix in a batch of David Lebovitz's Vietnamese Coffee pops. 

I forgot that I wanted to try swirling in some cream.  You can't swirl in the sweetened condensed milk as it won't freeze on its own but I could have added a little cream at the end.  Next time.  

 

I bought yellow peaches (Zee Lady were this week's variety), nectarines and white peaches at the farmers market, along with some pluots but I'm out of popsicle sticks.  Oh the horror!  

[blue_dolphin]

Caramelized Honey & Fig pops using figs and honey from a recipe I tried yesterday. 

I sweetened plain Greek yogurt with some of the caramelized honey and blended in a few figs - I scooped out the flesh to avoid too much dark skin - and sliced more honeyed figs to put into the molds. I drizzled caramelized honey into the molds but it stuck and didn't come out so I added more after I unmolded them.

 

Edited to add that the pop on the far left didn't get any figs in the mold - I got tired of trying to slice and place them!

Edited September 11, 2018 by blue_dolphin (log)

[Anna N]

4 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

and sliced more honeyed figs to put into the molds

 I am glad you said what the inclusions were because they look remarkably like shiitake mushrooms.😂

[blue_dolphin]

First popsicles of the season.  Back to basics with straight up strawberry and strawberries and cream:

[demiglace]

15 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

First popsicles of the season.  Back to basics with straight up strawberry and strawberries and cream:

Yay, it's popsicle season! 

[blue_dolphin]

Over in another thread, I was talking about a few drinks I made from Nik Sharma's book, Season and mentioned that I turned a couple of them into popsicles.   Here they are:

I turned the Cardamom Iced Coffee with Coconut Milk into these cardamom coconut iced coffee pops.  I made a cardamom:jaggery syrup to sweeten them and added some coconut chips.  

These are OK, but not as good as David Lebovitz's Vietnamese Iced Coffee pops.  The coconut flakes did nothing for me and were only odd. 

 

I also translated the Ginger and Tamarind Refresher into these Tamarind & Ginger pops.  I know that tamarind paletas with chile are popular and liked the idea of getting the "bite" into these with ginger.  In addition to the ginger:jaggery syrup used in the drink, I added some ginger beer to these.   I was worried they would be too icy so I tried adding the small amount of gelatin that Serious Eats used in these tamarind pops and it seemed to work well. 

They are very tart and very gingery.  I like to dip them into a small glass of dark rum - sort of a tamarind Dark & Stormy effect. 

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

Upthread, there are mentions of Stella Park's DIY Fudgsicle recipe that appeared over on Serious Eats a few years ago but I don't recall if anyone actually made them.

I used the Cacao Barry Extra Brute cocoa and skim milk that's recommend and I strained the mixture before pouring it into the molds because I was worried particles of cocoa or gelatin would adversely affect the texture but I didn't catch much in the strainer and the texture is very smooth and creamy.  I subbed Grand Marnier for the 1T crème de cacao. It's barely detectable so if I really want an orange flavor, I'll need to add some orange extract or orange oil or add orange zest to the cooked mixture and strain it out. 

[Shelby]

WANT

[MelissaH]

I've made BraveTart's fudgsicles. This reminds me that I need to make more of them.

[blue_dolphin]

Rosé-dipped Strawberry Rose Ice Pops from Naz Devarian's Bottom of the Pot

The pops are just lightly sweetened strawberries whizzed in the blender with a splash of rosewater, served dipped in a dry rosé.

 

[blue_dolphin]

Roasted Peach, Honey and Earl Grey pops

I had some honey/Earl Grey syrup I'd made for a cocktail so I used the leftovers to sweeten these pops.  Peaches are the July Flame variety from the farmers market.

 

[lemniscate]

McClure's pickles are the choice of this household, the garlic/dill ones.  When the jar is empty and only the brine remains, I pour the juice into some of these molds.

 

We like them as is.  Savory popsicle.

 

Pickle juice is believed to be a very good rehydrating solution and we live in an area of high, dry heat.  I've even used this frozen brine as ice cubes in plain tomato juice with a shot of hot sauce and Worcester to make a Virgin Mary.   

Edited August 9, 2019 by lemniscate
amazon linking not working (log)

[blue_dolphin]

An old favorite made to use up some leftover sweetened condensed milk.  David Lebovitz's Vietnamese Coffee pops.

 

[Merry Berry]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

An old favorite made to use up some leftover sweetened condensed milk.  David Lebovitz's Vietnamese Coffee pops.

 

 

I have GOT to make these!!!  Just have to source some molds first. 

[blue_dolphin]

Roasted Peach:

 

Blueberry & Peach:

[Shelby]

I wish I was your neighbor....how would you feel about moving to the middle of no where and making me popsicles? 

 

😁

[SLB]

I mean, are we trying to start an intentional community?  Because, I mean, I'm in.  

 

Seriously.  These popsicle shots make me rethink . . . everything.  

[blue_dolphin]

Peach  & strawberry pops

Seascape strawberries from Harry's Berries and O'Henry peaches from Tenerelli Orchards.

 

Also, a serving suggestion for the roasted peach pops from the other day.

Just pour a little Elijah Craig or your choice of bourbon into an icy glass, add peach pop and enjoy.

 

[blue_dolphin]

A few "leftover" pops.  I had pumpkin purée leftover from yesterday's breakfast waffles and there was some heavy cream hanging out in an iSi whip in the fridge so I made these pumpkin pie with whipped cream pops:

Very similar to the recipe in People's Pops except that I just used a generous spoon of Penzey's Pie Spice instead of making a spiced simple syrup.  Tastes fine and I don't detect any grittiness from the ground spices. 

 

I had some strawberry and blueberry purées leftover from the other pops so I made a few berries & cream pops:

My freezer is now full.  I gotta give some of these away before I can make any more.  If anyone wants to swing by with a cooler, I can load you up!

[blue_dolphin]

Somehow I gave away all my popsicles.  It was 97°F here yesterday and it's currently 96°F.  Clearly, something had to be done.  

Out to the lime tree to pick some early specimens and turn them into these Lime Pie Pops:

The recipe for these is from Fany Gerson's Paletas. They are supposed to be coated in graham cracker crumbs.  That may or may not happen before I bag them up.