Suddenly, it’s summer…

Nothing says summertime like a triple flavored home made popsicle, right?

And then, overnight, the temperatures rose into the high 80′s (some say we hit 90 this week, but I refuse to believe it). Down jackets are a distant memory. The sprinklers have been turned on in the playgrounds. Summer is upon us.

In response, we are making our own popsicles again, this time with a little help from The Cookbook For Kids, by Lisa Atwood for William Sonoma. We changed the recipe to fit our personal tastes (and what was available at the market) and I’ve copied our take on the formal instructions below in the hopes that you will all become avid pop makers.

For those of you who want to dive deeper into the world of DIY pops, I wrote a comprehensive piece for Krrb that includes links to molds you might want to buy plus lots of recipe ideas.

Oh and if you are looking for a slightly more grown up version (read: frozen drinks on a stick) check out One Kings Lane’s brilliant post with 4 great recipes for the fruity-but-also-alcoholic pop. Oh and also there’s this Strawberry Greyhound poptail from Endless Simmer.

And, last but not least, check out these Blood Orange Pops from The Little Epicurean. Yum!!

Here’s our slightly altered 3 tier pop recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup frozen blackberries
1 cup frozen mango
3/4 cup OJ

How to make it:

In a small pan, combine sugar and 1/3 cup water. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves into a syrup. (2 – 3 minutes) To be honest, you can probably skip the whole simple syrup apart and still have insanely delicious treats. We will most likely do that next time, but I have given birth to someone who is a stickler for following directions line for line.

Next, rinse the strawberries with room temperature water. Set aside to thaw. Pour mango cubes into a blender. Add 1/4 cup OJ and 2 Tbs syrup (from step one) Purée until smooth. Divide the mango purée among 6 ice pop molds or 4 paper cups. (we used cups, because my daughter insisted that ours look JUST LIKE THE PICTURE in the book). Tap the bottom of the cups/molds on the countertop to settle the purée. Place in the freezer. After 1 hour, place a craft stick in the center of each cup/mold.

For the second layer, purée the blackberries, 1/4 cup OJ and 2 Tbs syrup until smooth. Pour over the mango purée in the cups/molds and return to the freezer.

Last but not least, blend the now pretty much melted strawberries with the rest of the OJ and syrup until smooth. Pour over the other layers and return to the freezer.

Freeze the layered pops until firm, 2 – 4 hours. To remove pops from molds, dip the bottoms into a bowl of hot water till they begin to loosen (or just peel off the paper cups.)

Enjoy!