Kiwi-Lemon-Galangal Ice Pops

Ingredients:
4 cups peeled, halved kiwi
juice and zest of 1 (large) lemon
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh or ground galangal root or ginger

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a blender and pulse until smooth and well combined. Pour into ice pop molds. Freeze until solid.

Yield: about 12 ice pops, depending on the size of your molds

My thoughts:

I sometimes hesitate about posting such simple recipes but the combination was so surprisingly good, I didn't want to keep it to myself. Ice pops are great for using up fruit, I recently had a ton of kiwi on my hands, enough that I made jam and a pie and these ice pops and still had some leftover. That is a lot of kiwi! Kiwi has a high water content so you don't need to add any juice (I just added the lemon juice for flavor) or water or anything to make it the right consistency for a superior ice pop. The lemon added just a bit of tartness to my very sweet kiwi and the galangal added a background note of spice that kept it from being just another boring ice pop.

Fresh Blackberry-Ginger Yogurt Pops

Ingredients:
1 cup plain, low fat yogurt (regular or Greek)
1 cup blackberries
2 inch knob ginger, chopped
1/2 teaspoon agave nectar

Directions:
Place the ginger in a blender. Pulse until fairly smooth and liquidy. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse until smooth. Pour into ice pop molds, leaving a bit of headroom for expansion. Freeze until solid, about 6 hours or overnight.

Yield: about 6 ice pops, depending on the mold

Note: If you use a high powered blender, the blackberry seeds will be nearly nonexistant. If your blender isn't very powerful and you are seed adverse, press the berries through a sieve before adding them to the blender.

My thoughts:

The unofficial blackberry week continues! It has been a hot and steamy week here in Baltimore. Most days it has been at least 90 with anywhere from 80-98% humidity. Oy. My husband the ice pop fiend has eating at least 2 homemade Popsicles a day! I don't eat anywhere near that many but these pops are really good. They are a little more "adult" tasting than most ice pops. They are not too sweet but really fruity. The shot of spicy ginger adds some heat and the yogurt gives them tang. The perfect treat for a hot summer day.

Pineapple-Chile Paletas

Ingredients:
12-16 oz fresh pineapple, cut into chunks
1 dried chile guajillo, seeds removed freshly ground
3/4 cup pineapple juice
1 teaspoon chipolte chile powder
1 tablespoon sugar (if needed)
juice of 1 lime


Directions:
Add 3/4 of the pineapple chunks, all of the pineapple juice, chile guajillo, sugar, lime juice and chipolte powder in blender and pulse until almost smooth. Stir in remaining pineapple chunks. Divide evenly into ice pop molds, leaving a 1/4 inch at the top for expansion. Seal and freeze until solid.


Quick note: For this recipe, it would be fine to substitute canned pineapple in juice for the fresh.


Yield: This will depend in how large your molds are. You could also use cups and wooden sticks if you don't have actual ice pop molds. I personally prefer the smaller sized and liquid tight Tupperware Ice Tups but there are a wide variety of molds available in various sizes on Amazon.

My thoughts:

Paletas are Latin American ice pops that are usually made from fresh fruit and often contain chiles. I am actually not much of a ice pop person (in direct contrast to my husband who is absolutely Popsicle addicted) but I find paletas completely irresistible. I think I love these pineapple ones most of all, but I also have a special fondness for cucumber-lime-chile and pickle paletas* as well. There is something very refreshing about a cool pop that has a bit of spice to it.

Even tiny dachshunds can't resist the allure of the pineapple and chile combination.





*I might be convinced to post a recipe for these too, if there was some interest.

Pineapple-Yogurt Ice Pops

Ingredients:
6 oz plain yogurt (I used Greek style, but regular, unstrained would do)
20 oz canned pineapple chunks in 100% pineapple juice

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a blender, pulse until almost smooth. Pour into ice pop molds, leaving a small space at the top so they can expand. Close the molds and freeze until frozen solid, generally 3-5 hours.

Yield: 8-12 ice pops, depending on the size of your mold

My thoughts:

I generally think of these sorts of treats generically as popsicles, but Popsicle is actually a trademarked brand with a long history that started with an 11 year old boy making a accidental discovery. When I was little I rarely ate commercially make popsicles- we made them by freezing Kool-aid in Tupperware Ice Tup molds and when my husband was little, his family made them using yogurt (they had more a healthy food bent then mine did). Now that I am an adult, I like a little more fruit in my ice pop but I still couldn't resist using my new Hello Kitty ice pop mold.