On a burning hot day my family are likely to eat three popsicles a day, each. One at breakfast, one after lunch (if they can wait that long) and one for dessert.
Being no fan of feeding children a whole lot of sugar, we prefer popsicles that are only naturally sweetened with a minimum of sugar. Most popsicle moulds hold between 70-100mls in each cavity. If you’re not sure how much yours takes, pour in some water and measure in in a measuring jug afterwards. It’s no big deal if you have a little excess mixture; just add more liquid and turn it into a smoothie.
With popsicles, I generally find that a lot of recipes make stuff that is too sweet and not what you’d be happy to have children eating all day long. So make the puree strong in flavour but don’t feel pressured to sweeten it too much; flavours are dulled in frozen goods so the riper or stronger in flavour the fruit, the better.
- Pure mango
Sometimes people look around too hard for the right recipe with frozen desserts, but the fact is strong flavoured summer fruit make great popsicles as they are naturally sweet, full of flavour and freeze really well. They don’t drip or melt as quickly also. Just puree some fresh mango flesh and pour into the moulds and freeze! - Pure strawberry
As above, pure strawberry popsicles are magical and take absolutely ages to melt. If your strawberries are a bit tart, sweeten the puree with a little honey, agave or maple syrup. - Pure papaya and lime
A really brightly coloured, beautifully ripe papaya is delicious pureed with lime juice for popsicles. It should need no sweetener. - Banana and milk
Good overripe bananas are so wonderful in baking, but for Summer, chuck your quickly ripening bananas in the freezer. Puree these for an easy “ice cream” or blend your overripe bananas, ¼ cup of milk for each banana, sweeten with honey and pour into popsicle moulds. - Peach yogurt
Make the mixture for this a bit thicker than you would be making a smoothie, a few ripe peaches, a few tablespoons of plain yogurt and some milk. - Berry yogurt
I tend to make a batch of these with the odds and ends of squished berries I get in every punnet. Combine with yogurt, milk and honey for sweetness and pour into moulds. Looks pretty with whole berries dropped into the moulds with the puree. - Cantaloupe and lime
Pure pureed cantaloupe flesh and the juice of one lime makes the most amazing popsicles. Add shredded mint if you like. - Watermelon
As the flavour of frozen watermelon puree can be quite dulled, sweeten with agave or sugar to taste until the mixture is slightly over-sweet; these will make the best tasting watermelon popsicles. - Layered pure fruit
Puree different colours of fruit such as kiwi, mango and berries separately. Layer up the fruit in the popsicle moulds and freeze. Makes some very fun and colourful popsicles. - Iced tea
make a batch of very strong, very lemony and very sweet ice tea. Pour into moulds and freeze. This is really nice with thin slices of peach or nectarine in the moulds. - Coconut avocado popsicles
- Pure fruit chunks in coconut water
Fill the moulds with diced fresh summer fruit such as mango, pineapple, berries, melon, grapes and top with coconut water. Healthy and a great isotonic replacer. - Chia pudding popsicles
You know all those chia pudding recipes that we so love on MamaBake? They freeze really well into chia pudding popsicles! Just thin with more milk of your choice. - Pineapple and coconut
reminiscent of a non-alcoholic pina colada. Puree pineapple with coconut milk, at a 5:1 ratio. Add the juice of one lime. A ripe pineapple should need no added sweetener. - Green smoothie popsicles
Puree a ripe banana, spinach leaves, kale leaves, pineapple, cucumber and sweeten with agave or honey. These are such a fun green colour and the strong pineapple and banana flavour covers that of the vegetables and it’s still technically raw! Great way to get hot and bothered children to eat their greens. - Chocolate Fudge Ice creams!
