Popsicles

[blue_dolphin]

Pomegranate & Yogurt Pops  I added a bit of pomegranate molasses to the pomegranate juice in these but otherwise followed the recipe. 

 

And a poptail version of this Pomegranate & Grapefruit Paloma cocktail.   These are basically a juice pop so they'll be icy but should be refreshing. 

[teonzo]

4 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

Pomegranate & Yogurt Pops  

 

I always pictured you with blue hair... Don't know if I'm disappointed or what else.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[blue_dolphin]

Cucumber, mint & lime pops

 

These came out a bit on the sweet side as is but I've been keeping a small glass of rum in the freezer and calling this a faux-jito:

[pastrygirl]

 

a rainbow of fruit flavors 

 

Edited August 1, 2020 by pastrygirl (log)

[blue_dolphin]

A friend sent me a NYT recipe for Creamy Lemon Pops With Basil.  There's no actual lemon juice in them, just the zest.  

The recipe suggests adding fresh berries so each one got a few blueberries.  

 

I had some of that mix leftover so I puréed up the rest of the blueberries and made these Blueberry with Lemon Cream Pops

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

Two more.  Used the rest of the blueberry purée from above to make peach & blueberry pops. I love the blueberry flavor and this is one of my favorite combinations.

 

Also made these mint chip pops

 

I made mint syrup from David Lebovitz's book Drinking French.  Due to a misprint, I used 80 g of fresh mint leaves instead of 20 g.  It's very green and very minty and it's what I used to flavor the milk/heavy cream mixture here. 

 

[pastrygirl]

strawberry & cream

 

[blue_dolphin]

Peach & Pomegranate

[blue_dolphin]

Got some beautiful satsuma plums at the farmers market the other day.  

They are now plum & yogurt pops:

 

[blue_dolphin]

Pineapple and Toasted Coconut

The toasted coconut part is from Fany Gerson's recipe in her book, Paletas,  for Quick Coconut Ice Pops. 

Toasting the coconut really brings out the flavor. 

I have another set in the freezer, without the pineapple and am debating a chocolate dip or drizzle. 

[Katie Meadow]

@blue_dolphin, do you have a simple recipe for a basic tart lemon popsicle? I'm not looking for anything with yogurt or other dairy, just a very plain lemony icy treat. Egg white would be okay if your favorite recipe includes it. I have a mold. And my next door neighbor has lots of really fragrant lemons. Thanks, it's so hot here in the Bay Area and of course you know very few of us have air conditioning up here. 

[heidih]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

Pineapple and Toasted Coconut

 

The toasted coconut part is from Fany Gerson's recipe in her book, Paletas,  for Quick Coconut Ice Pops. 

Toasting the coconut really brings out the flavor. 

 

 

I like the toasted coconut idea for textural note.  Your flavor combos are always quite interesting and appealing.  You forgot to link the pina colada song  which is now tuck in my head. I realize no rum probably cuz of freeze point, but lime?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSdoWaW27gU

 

Edited August 16, 2020 by heidih (log)

[blue_dolphin]

5 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

@blue_dolphin, do you have a simple recipe for a basic tart lemon popsicle? I'm not looking for anything with yogurt or other dairy, just a very plain lemony icy treat. Egg white would be okay if your favorite recipe includes it. I have a mold. And my next door neighbor has lots of really fragrant lemons. Thanks, it's so hot here in the Bay Area and of course you know very few of us have air conditioning up here. 

 

There's a lime pop in Fany Gerson's book that I've adapted to lemons.  Basically, you make a lemon zest-infused sugar syrup and use that to sweeten & dilute the lemon juice. Since there's no fruit pulp in them, they're a juice pop and fairly icy, but still refreshing.  

2 cups water

2/3 cup sugar

3 strips lemon zest (I microplane the zest from all the lemons I'll be juicing, not just 3 strips)

3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

 

Bring the water, sugar and zest to a boil in a small saucepan and stir until the sugar has dissolved.  Allow it to cool completely and then strain out the zest, combine with the juice, pour into the molds and freeze. 

I recommend tasting as you add the sugar syrup to the juice so you can adjust the sweetness level to your taste. 

 

You can add other ingredients to flavor the sugar syrup as it's being heated.  I like to put in a few sprigs of rosemary.  Or sub in some honey for part of the sugar and use several slices of fresh ginger. 

If you want to make them into poptails, you can add some limoncello or other liquor.  Keep that to less than 10% of the total volume to avoid them being too soft and melty.  

 

3 hours ago, heidih said:

I like the toasted coconut idea for textural note.  Your flavor combos are always quite interesting and appealing.  You forgot to link the pina colada song  which is now tuck in my head. I realize no rum probably cuz of freeze point, but lime?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSdoWaW27gU

 

Great minds think alike!  There's already some lime juice in the pineapple layer and I came oh-so close to adding pineapple rum to the top layer and coconut rum to the bottom.  I've been sharing them with friends who have kids so I decided to skip it in this round but it's on my list!

 

 

[teonzo]

14 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

Pineapple and Toasted Coconut

 

If you are open to experiments then I would suggest to try pineapple + coconut + star anise.

Since we are in figs season, figs + pineapple is great too. Figs + saffron is even better.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[blue_dolphin]

6 hours ago, teonzo said:

If you are open to experiments then I would suggest to try pineapple + coconut + star anise.

Since we are in figs season, figs + pineapple is great too. Figs + saffron is even better.

 

I know some people are haters, but I very much like star anise so I will try that.  I used frozen pineapple chunks for those last pops.  I'll track down a fresh one as I'd like to broil or grill it to get some caramelization on it to go with the star anise. 

Figs and saffron sounds very decadent.  Do you think the saffron will stand out in a frozen preparation?  Any tips on that? 

 

Today's unmolding....

Peaches & cream:

 

Toasted coconut (before):

 

Toasted coconut (after):

[teonzo]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

I know some people are haters, but I very much like star anise so I will try that.  I used frozen pineapple chunks for those last pops.  I'll track down a fresh one as I'd like to broil or grill it to get some caramelization on it to go with the star anise. 

 

In this case I don't cook the pineapple, I like it raw. I cut the pineapple pulp, blitz it with an immersion blender to get a puree, strain it with a food mill / whatever to eliminate the fibers, then add the syrup. For the star anise I grind it with the sugar before making the syrup, it's easier to get the desired intensity, plus I like the color, but you can infuse the whole spice in the hot syrup.

Pineapples (and figs) pair well with everything anethole related: anise, star anise, fennel, liquorice... For example you can add fennel fronds to the popsicles, they make for a great visual. Most people here in Italy discard fennel fronds and it's a crime.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

Figs and saffron sounds very decadent.  Do you think the saffron will stand out in a frozen preparation?  Any tips on that? 

 

First time I found this pairing was at my favourite restaurant here in Italy. I thought it was an invention by the chef, then I discovered it was traditional in the banquets of ancient Rome. So decadent seems like the perfect description!

In this case I prefer to cook the figs. I cut the figs in half to check if they are good or not, keeping their skin on (lots of people here discard the fig skins and this is another crime). Then I blitz them with an immersion blender and strain the pulp to eliminate the seeds. Then add water and sugar (no sense in making the syrup in advance) and bring to a boil, mixing constantly with a spatula since it tends to stick to the bottom of the pan. Then add saffron to taste. Better using the green figs instead of the dark ones, both for taste and color.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[blue_dolphin]

Wow!  Thank you so much, @teonzo!

[blue_dolphin]

Strawberry with a thin top layer of mint:

I wanted to mimic the green top on a fresh berry.  

Not sure if it looks cute or moldy 🙄

[heidih]

6 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Strawberry with a thin top layer of mint:

 

I wanted to mimic the green top on a fresh berry.  

Not sure if it looks cute or moldy 🙄

 

No it looks frameable.  Like the youngster with the classic rocket pop which I did frame  

Edited August 20, 2020 by heidih (log)

[blue_dolphin]

When it's hot, I often switch to iced coffee.  When it's really hot, I bring out the big guns:

Vietnamese coffee pops from David Lebovitz's site.

[blue_dolphin]

Drawing on the inspiration and expertise of @teonzo, I made Fig, Saffron & Yogurt Pops:

 

Because I couldn't resist eating a bunch of the beautiful figs I got at the farmers market, I didn't have enough left for a full batch of straight-up fig & saffron pops.  The figs were so sweet that I thought the slight tartness of the yogurt might be a nice contrast and would help show off the saffron color.  

I did not cook the fig purée or strain out the seeds as they were barely detectable, just added a squeeze of lemon juice, a bit of lemon zest, a spoonful of honey and saffron to the fig purée.  The yogurt layer is Greek yogurt with a little honey, saffron and a little milk & cream to thin to a pourable consistency. 
Edited to add that I put most of the saffron in the fig purée and less in the yogurt.  That fig/saffron combo really sings!

These were already in the freezer when I got a text message from my neighbor who said they were especially enjoying the fruit + cream or yogurt swirl pops  so I think these might be a hit with them.  

 

I will definitely try more fig pops.  I'd made some fig & ricotta cheesecake pops in the past (see here) that involved sticking fig slices to the sides of the molds.  I liked the idea of showcasing the fresh figs in that way but the pops looked odd and were a nuisance.  This was a much easier way. 

 

Edited August 23, 2020 by blue_dolphin (log)

[heidih]

Wow the color alone is refreshing and brings a smile.

[blue_dolphin]

28 minutes ago, heidih said:

Wow the color alone is refreshing and brings a smile.

 

Thanks. The fig purée started out a pretty pink color and I was worried that the saffron just turned it brown but swirled into the yogurt, you can definitely see that pretty golden color coming through in both. 

 If you were just a little closer, I'd be happy to drop some off

[Yiannos]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

If you were just a little closer, I'd be happy to drop some off

 

Man it is so hot and gross here, I feel like I'd make the 8 hour or whatever drive down if this offer is extended to the rest of us. Your popsicles look amazing!

[FauxPas]

42 minutes ago, Yiannos said:

Your popsicles look amazing!

 

They really do! I've thought about how much fun it would be to visit @blue_dolphinand raid her freezer!  😆