Posts tagged ‘popsicles’

Jul 22

Gooseberry and Red Currant Popsicles And More Popsicles

Have I gone gooseberry crazy? It’s all together possible! Wasting food is abhorent to me and I wanted to make sure I used every single gooseberry and currant that I bought. Besides the crumble which is pretty standard fare I wanted to do something a little bit different with them. Since it’s so hot out I decided that popsicles would be the way to go, icy and cold and delicious a great way to beat the heat and use up my berries. In making the popsicles I discovered the real flavor of the gooseberry, there is a lovely floral note and when cooked with some sugar and water, it really brings out the flavor. It reminds me a little of elderflower. The popsicles are a mix of green and purple gooseberries and at the end after straining the pulp I added the red currants distributing into a half frozen popsicle. Don’t throw that pulp away, it’s really delicious with just a couple of tablespoons of the syrup to loosen it up, it makes a delicious preserve or jam on biscuits, scones or toast. FYI, the gooseberries and currants are labor intensive to clean and de stem, kind of like pitting cherries. Each gooseberry needs to be clipped on each and end and the currants are very tiny and each individual currant needs to be picked off of the stems. Labor intensive but worth the effort.

Gooseberry and Red Currant Popsicles

Makes 8 popsicles

1 pint gooseberries (approx)clipped

1-1 1/4 cups sugar (You can add less if using the sweeter gooseberry, I mixed them and they were very sour)

1 1/4 cup water

1/3 (approx) cup red currants

Put the gooseberries, sugar and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and continue cooking until the berries pop open. Strain into heat proof bowl or cup. Immediatly add the currants and let them sit until it cools then refrigerate.

I decided to add some red currents that would be suspended inside the popsicle. The currants float in the liquid so in order to ensure that they are dispersed within the pop I partially froze it. a couple of hours in the freezer without the stick inserted, the mixture is not frozen solid just slushy, you then place some currants in and spread them around with a skewer, insert the sticks and put back in the freezer.

We are smack dab in the middle of a heat wave with temperatures soaring to almost 100 degree’s and thats not the heat index. I so love my popsicle mold I have been making popsicles all the time, they are stockpiled in my freezer. I really love experimenting, in the summer lemonade and iced tea are favorite drinks that I almost always keep in the refrigerator. So I thought I would make both into popsicles. Sweet tea with mint and lemonade with raspberries. Ice cold and portable these popsicles are wonderful. All you need to do is make lemonade and iced tea, no recipe required. When the popsicles were partially frozen after 2 hours in the freezer I added some raspberries to the lemonade and mint leaves to the sweet tea. I ran out of lemonade so made one Arnold Palmer popsicle, half lemonade and half tea.

sweet tea and lemonade raspberry popsicles

All of these frozen treats are coming with me to Angie’s for Fiesta Friday #129. Got my ice chest ready and I will rush over so they don’t melt. This week’s co hosts are Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook and Colleen @ Faith, Hope, Love & Luck. See you all at the party!

Jul 1

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Boozy Strawberry Rhubarb Yogurt Pops

I am dedicating the next few posts to frozen treats, ice cream. sorbet and popsicles. These popsicles are so simple to make and sort of nutritionally sound because they contain very little sugar and if you omit the booze it’s like a frozen breakfast popsicle. A few posts back I told you I made a rhubarb cordial, I used it in the Pavlova and now in these popsicles. They are so easy to make, all you need is a popsicle mold and a few ingredients, no cooking required. You don’t need to use any alcohol in your pops, honestly there is so little in this it’s almost not there, but for a family friendly popsicle simply omit. I didn’t really use a recipe for this, eyeballed and the measurements below are approximate, it just happens that it made pretty much the right amount to fill the molds. I added and tasted so bear in mind that this is not exact.

I just got a great popsicle mold made my onyx, it’s stainless steel, freezes quickly and the popsicles come out like a dream. I am very happy with it because it also has a feature that ensures the stick remains in place and can be inserted when you first place it in the freezer, genius.

I’ve got my ice packs and insulated carrier ready because I’m bringing these beauties to Fiesta Friday #126 . This is a holiday weekend and Angie’s co hosts are all of us. It is up to us to vote on our favorite recipes.

Strawberry Rhubarb Yogurt Popsicles

Makes 8

measurements are approximate

Strawberries

2 cups strawberries cleaned and sliced

2 tbs sugar (use if you like and sweeten to taste)

1/4 cup rhubarb cordial

Yogurt

2 cups whole milk greek yogurt (approximately 14 oz)

sugar to taste

2 tbs rhubarb cordial

1 tsp vanilla

Mash the macerated strawberries with a fork. Mix the yogurt with the sugar, rhubarb cordial and vanilla. The cordial thins the very thick greek yogurt slightly, if using greek yogurt you will want to thin it a bit with either the cordial or a liquor, water, milk or cream or fruit juice, your choice. Layer the strawberries first, then the yogurt and end with the yogurt. Place in freezer and enjoy in 4+ hours. See how easy this is.