Popsicles

[peachpie]

 

Hey, my kids love Popsicle and we always keep trying different one’s at home. Last month I made Spring Bouquet Popsicle, I know it sounds very weird, but I must say, it came out really good and my kids loved it so much that now I’m asked to make it every weekend. It’s a very simple recipe and has fruit juices in it which I think is best for  the little ones because they wouldn’t have it otherwise. Hope this helped you.

[blue_dolphin]

There are still some recipes in Fany Gerson’s Paletas that I haven’t tried and I’ve got lots of other ideas and yet, I bought another popsicle  cookbook:  people’s pops: 55 recipes for ice pops, shave ice and boozy pops from Brooklyn’s coolest pop shop.  A quick search didn’t turn up another mention of this book, so this seems like as good a place as any for my review.  Bottom line:  It’s a great book for someone looking to explore new, fresh flavors of frozen pops.   The subtitle indicates 55 recipes but the book actually includes ideas for many, many more options.  I think it’s a book I’ll turn to as much for ideas as for actual recipes.

 

It begins with a bit of background on the people’s pops business, based on using the best fresh, seasonal fruit from local farmer’s markets.  They’re in New York City, so there won’t be any recipes for tropical lime-coconut-avocado-pineapple pops.  That also means no real overlap with the Mexican flavors in Paletas.
Next up are a few pages of "fundamentals” - basics, tips, suggestions for flavor combinations and guidelines for including alcoholic ingredients.  I’m not 100% on board with their classification of fruits and other ingredients as “cool” or “warm” and the recommendation to combine cool with cool and warm with warm.   I don’t think of ginger as a “cool” ingredient and often find contrasting flavors to be more interesting than similar ones but I like that the authors actively encourage readers to experiment beyond the recipes given.

Chapters are organized by season according to the main ingredient and each chapter begins with an intro section that includes a few paragraphs on each fruit with recommendations for choosing and handling that item and suggestions for other ingredients that would work well with it.  Likewise, the header text for each recipe often suggests other substitutions or pairings.  Every recipe emphasizes the variability of fresh fruit and encourages the cook to taste mixtures for sweetness before freezing.  Obviously, the first time through with any recipe, you don’t really know what you are tasting for since the final frozen product usually tastes less sweet than the same ingredients at room temperature but I like the emphasis on tasting rather than just relying on a recipe. Personally, I find it helpful to chill the mixtures down as much as possible before tasting to get a better sense of how the frozen product will taste.  

 

While most of the recipes are for frozen pops, there’s also a short section at the end with recipes for shaved ices and syrups.

 

I like the way flavors are combined, infusing herbs or spices into simple syrup or roasting stone fruits to intensify flavor.  Some of the recipes that I’d like to try are blueberry & buttermilk, blackberry & lemon verbena, peach & jalapeño, watermelon & parsley, pear, cream & ginger and pumpkin pie with whipped cream.  

 

Here’s the result of the first recipe I tried, corn & blackberry pops:

They are cosmetically impared because I got distracted while I had the molds sitting in warm water prior to unmolding.  Nice contrast between the intense sweet-tart blackberries in the top layer and the sweet, creamy, more subtle corn flavor in the bottom layer.    I will be interested whether or not someone would identify it as corn without knowing in advance.  
 

Edited August 9, 2016 by blue_dolphin (log)

[Anna N]

 My guilt about popsicles knows no bounds. I even insisted that Kerry purchase a popsicle mold while we were on Manitoulin Island and still no popsicles were ever made.  My tiniest excuse is that the frozen mango we got to make them was so awful we had to ditch it. (The beautiful mangoes that Kerry found in Costco we ate out of hand!)

 

Don't give up on me yet.

[blue_dolphin]

19 hours ago, Anna N said:

 My guilt about popsicles knows no bounds. I even insisted that Kerry purchase a popsicle mold while we were on Manitoulin Island and still no popsicles were ever made.

 

Popsicles are fun and enjoying one or two of them have gotten me through several hot afternoons without turning on the AC but I don't believe they are in any way guilt-worthy !  

 

Today's pops - watermelon & parsley:

These are very refreshing.  The super sweet yellow watermelon was from the farmers market.  The parsley was just chopped and stirred in right before freezing so I was surprised how clearly it came through and the fresh green and slightly bitter flavor was a nice counterpoint to the very sweet watermelon.  

I've been cutting these recipes in half to make five of these ~2.5oz pops instead of 10.  I had almost enough mixture for 6, so I chopped up a bit more watermelon and dropped a few cubes into each mold to bring up the volume.

[blue_dolphin]

Another recipe from the people's pops cookbook.  I used Dapple Dandy pluots from the farmer's market to make the roasted red plum pops.  Roasting the fruit makes for a concentrated flavor that is incredibly intense and a texture that is more soft and creamy rather than hard and icy.  

[blue_dolphin]

There were 2 big, ripe peaches in the house this morning and I decided to make peach & jalapeño pops from the people's pops cookbook.

 I put the peaches in the Cuisi steam oven to roast and made the jalapeño-infused simple syrup but when I took the roasted peaches out of the oven, they began calling out for bourbon.  Loudly and distinctly.  Bourbon!  And it wasn't even 9 AM!

So I turned the page in the cookbook and made these roasted peach & bourbon pops:

Like the roasted plum pops above, these have a dense, almost creamy texture.  I ate one already and plan to have another this evening with a little glass of Elijah Craig to sip.

The jalapeño-infused simple syrup will wait in the fridge for another fruit to come along.

[Anna N]

 

  Don't give up on me just yet. I found (most) of my popsicle moulds and after a appointment this morning my daughter is taking me grocery shopping so stay tuned. We may yet see Popsicles from the Nielsen kitchen. 

[rotuts]

Ive noticed several multi-layered Pops on this thread.

 

looking at  @Anna N  rig got me thinking :

 

clearly you add your first layer, then freeze.  from the above I realize that the ' stick' has to be frozen into the first layer.

 

does the rig above allow you to add a second layer with the Stick inlace ?

 

I had not realized there was a top also involved.

[Shelby]

11 minutes ago, rotuts said:

Ive noticed several multi-layered Pops on this thread.

 

looking at  @Anna N  rig got me thinking :

 

clearly you add your first layer, then freeze.  from the above I realize that the ' stick' has to be frozen into the first layer.

 

does the rig above allow you to add a second layer with the Stick inlace ?

 

I had not realized there was a top also involved.

I froze my first layer without the stick/top on.

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, Shelby said:

I froze my first layer without the stick/top on.

Yeah, the "sticks" on mine go about halfway down so you can do a layer with the caps off easily. 

[Anna N]

 

Ta Da!   Strawberry cream. With better strawberries would've been a better popsicle but it's a start .

[blue_dolphin]

Yay!  How nice to have company here in popsicle-land!  Strawberry & cream sounds lovely.  I was thinking of trying a raspberry & cream version next.  Or maybe pineapple & jalapeño?  I may have to start going around the neighborhood selling these things to make room in my freezer for more !

 

Cucumber, elderflower and tequila pops:

Basic recipe is from the people's pops cookbook.  I substituted elderflower liqueur for the elderflower syrup called for and dialed back the tequila a bit.  I also reserved and diced some of the cucumber so there are little cubes scattered throughout the pops.

[blue_dolphin]

Raspberries & cream:

[Shel_B]

I'd like to upgrade my popsicle mold and was thinking about this one:  Click Here

 

Has anyone used these, and what do you think of them?  Also, what are the pros and cons of using stainless steel for making popsicles?

 

Thanks!

[blue_dolphin]

Even though there is still plenty of summer fruit around, I saw some nice, ripe (rather than the usual rock-hard) little Bartlett pears so I decided to make the people's pops recipe for pear, ginger and cream pops, one of the first flavor combinations from this book to catch my eye.

The recipe gets its ginger flavor by making a ginger-infused simple syrup.  I decided to add some little cubes of candied ginger for texture and more ginger!  I've been only making half-batches (4-6 pops) but after making the cooked pear purée, I realized that I had enough for a few more so I decided to make 2 variations.  I saw a recipe for Pear, Ginger and Riesling Sorbet that sounded appealing so I substituted some late harvest Riesling for the cream in some of the pops.  They all got the little cubes of crystalized ginger.  

Pear, ginger & cream on the left;  Pear, ginger & Reisling on the right:

Both are very good.  The recipe doesn't call for a lot of cream (2 oz heavy cream for ~ 30 oz of mixture) but adds a lot of richness.  The late harvest Riesling was sweet (4% residual sugar) but balanced with a nice acidity that made for a brighter, fruitier pear flavor.  

[Shelby]

I'm not a huge ginger fan but those look scrumptious!

 

Any recipes that use watermelon?  Have a half that I need to use up.

[Anna N]

I am a huge fan of ginger. Damn! I have to make these.   And kudos for finding yet another use for the IP.

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, Shelby said:

Any recipes that use watermelon?  Have a half that I need to use up.

Yes!  I posted a picture of the watermelon & parsley pops here. They are very, very refreshing.  Almost like a palate-cleanser with that fresh parsley flavor.   

EDITED TO ADD: Link to recipe for watermelon & parsley pops

You just purée the watermelon, sweeten with simple syrup (they used ~ 6 oz simple syrup to 1 2/3 lbs of watermelon, ~ half of a bowling ball-sized melon) and then add finely chopped parsley (recipes says 20 leaves of flat-leaf parsley). 

They stress adding the simple syrup to taste because the fruit always varies.  I always reserve some of the melon to dice into little cubes and drop into the molds.  I usually put the pops in the freezer for about an hour so it's starting to freeze and then add the cubes.  I recall my parsley was rather float-y so I used the sticks to re-distribute things when I added the cubes.

 

There's a recipe for watermelon & lemongrass pops that's similar but heats the simple syrup with a sliced stalk of lemongrass and lets it steep a while to infuse the flavor.

And one for watermelon & cucumber pops that uses ~ 1/3 cucumber : 2/3 watermelon.  I was going to try that one but decided to go with the cucumber, elderflower & tequila pops instead.

 

43 minutes ago, Anna N said:

I am a huge fan of ginger. Damn! I have to make these

Recipe here.

 

43 minutes ago, Anna N said:

And kudos for finding yet another use for the IP.

Thanks!  Some of the IP enthusiasts over on the Facebook group seem to want to cook anything and everything in the IP so I was very amused by my use of it for popsicles!

Edited August 20, 2016 by blue_dolphin (log)

[blue_dolphin]

I labeled and packed up most of the popsicles in my freezer and delivered them to my cousins yesterday afternoon.  I like to make them and see how they come out but I don't need to eat them ALL....well, except maybe for the roasted peach & bourbon ones !  

Reducing the batch size helps but they were still piling up.  Now, I have more room.

These are the spicy pineapple pops (paletas de piña con chile) from the Paletas cookbook.

 

In exchange for the popsicles, my cousin gave me a bunch of nice ripe peaches.  I stopped off at the liquor store on the way home to replenish my supply of Elijah Craig and another batch of those roasted peach and bourbon pops will be in the freezer shortly.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Your popsicles always look so good! What kind of chili did you use for the pineapple ones above? It is such a bright, contrasting red.

[blue_dolphin]

12 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

Your popsicles always look so good! What kind of chili did you use for the pineapple ones above? It is such a bright, contrasting red.

 

Thank you!  

The recipe calls for 1-2 teaspoons of ground chile (piquín, guajillo or árbol) and 1/2 t salt to be sprinkled on the diced pineapple before they go into the molds.  I've got the whole chiles but am also lazy so instead of grinding, I used some of the ubiquitous Mexican chile-lime "fruit seasoning".  I have the Valentina brand but Tajín is probably more popular.  

I sprinkled on a little more when I ate one.  I was going to dip them all but it's probably best to let the eater determine how much they want to add - that first lick could really put someone off if I over did it !

[blue_dolphin]

These are roasted peach & bourbon pops with a little ginger:

I had a couple of ounces of ginger-infused simple syrup and a few pieces of candied ginger that I'd steamed to soften, both left over from the pear & ginger pops so I threw them into this batch.  The ginger isn't as strong here but works well.  I do like those chewy little bits of candied ginger in there.

[Smithy]

I do NOT need popsicle molds.  I do NOT need popsicle molds. (Well, but I could just do things in an ice cube tray....) 

I do NOT need another cookbook.  I do NOT need another cookbook.

 

This is gorgeous stuff, blue_dolphin.  I will be making a sorbet or ice cream soon, now that I've scored more peaches. Thanks for your continued posting.

[Anna N]

34 minutes ago, Smithy said:

I do NOT need popsicle molds.  I do NOT need popsicle molds. (Well, but I could just do things in an ice cube tray....) 

I do NOT need another cookbook.  I do NOT need another cookbook.

 

This is gorgeous stuff, blue_dolphin.  I will be making a sorbet or ice cream soon, now that I've scored more peaches. Thanks for your continued posting.

@Smithy

 

I tried that tactic,  I really did.   But to no avail. The book jumped into my Kindle app and the popsicle moulds should jump into my mailbox tomorrow.  Resistance is futile. 

[blue_dolphin]

Bwaahaahaahaah !!