Recipes: Summer Popsicle Trio

Posted by Claire Ragozzino

Last summer, my friends and I gathered at my house to have a “popsicle-off” – a big midsummer popsicle tasting party/competition. Everyone brought their A-game to this one! Friends showed up with the most interesting boozy and non-boozy popsicle varieties, and for the whole night we huddled around in my kitchen passing off melting popsicles as they dripped down our hands, rating our favorites and licking the leftovers from sticky fingers. We grouped them in three categories – fruity, creamy and boozy. There was everything from toasted coconut and mango habanero, to peach mojito pops. I managed to snag some photos in the process of making them last summer, despite my broken AC that day of our popsicle adventure…and have been eager to share them ever since we had this party (remember how those terrible hackers crashed my blog last year and I couldn’t share anything until fall?).

Alas, summer is officially here and I couldn’t think of a better time to share these healthy popsicle recipes than during this long holiday weekend. So in honor of #popsicleweek and 4th of July, I bring you my three creamy and fruity popsicle recipes…

CREAMY MANGO, PASSIONFRUIT & LIME POPSICLES
2 cups kefir or coconut yogurt
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 lime, zested
1 medium ripe mango, diced
1 10 oz bag frozen mango
1 lime, juiced
3 passionfruit, halved & seeded

In a high-speed blender, add the mango and lime juice. Blend until creamy, transfer to a bowl and stir in the passionfruit seeds by hand. Next, combine the kefir, maple syrup and lime zest in a bowl, stir until well combined. Use a spoon to add alternating layers of the kefir mixture and mango mixture into the popsicle molds. Place the sticks into the mold and transfer to the freezer. Allow to sit several hours until fully frozen. To remove from molds, dip in hot water for a second to soften and release each individual popsicle. Note: I poured the passionfruit seeds into the bottom of the molds first in the pictures you see above, but I found in a second testing they froze better when incorporated into the mixture. 

FIG, CARDAMOM & ROSEWATER POPSICLES 
2 cups kefir or coconut yogurt
2 tsp rosewater
1 tsp ground cardamom
¼ cup raw honey
½ tsp vanilla bean powder
6 figs, thinly sliced

In a high-speed blender, combine the kefir, rosewater, cardamom, honey and vanilla bean. Blend until smooth. Slice the figs thinly and press into the popsicle molds. Pour the kefir mixture into the molds around the sliced figs. Place the sticks into the mold and transfer to the freezer. Allow to sit several hours until fully frozen. To remove from molds, dip in hot water for a second to soften and release each individual popsicle.

ROASTED BANANA, COCONUT & CACAO POPSICLES

3 
ripe bananas, roasted
¼ cup maple syrup
1 can full fat coconut milk
½ 
tsp vanilla bean powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Cacao Drizzle
1/4 cup raw honey
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup raw cacao powder
pinch pink salt

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Individually wrap the bananas with the peel on in parchment paper or foil, then roast for about 25 minutes or until very soft.

Once the bananas are cool enough to handle, peel and mash in a bowl, adding the maple syrup, vanilla and cinnamon. Transfer the mixture to a blender and add the coconut milk, plus the pinch of salt. Pulse until combined, but still a little chunky.

Divide the puree evenly amongst the molds, place the sticks and freeze until solid. Coat with cacao drizzle and sprinkle with crushed toasted coconut and cacao nibs.