Minty Lime Popsicles Makes 10-12 Ingredients: 2/3 cup sugar 2/3 cup water 6 fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped 2 cups fresh lime juice ½ cup limeade concentrate 10-12 popsicle molds (of your choice) optional: 2-3 drops green food coloring Directions: Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan and simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved, stirring occasionally. Remove the simple syrup from the heat and stir in the mint leaves and allow to cool completely. This will allow the natural mint flavor to infuse into the simple syrup without becoming bitter. Strain the mixture and stir together with the lime juice and limeade concentrate. If adding food coloring, do so at this time. Fill each mold with the mixture and place in freezer for at least 6 hours. Overnight is best. Once frozen, dip the molds in warm water to easily remove the popsicles. Serve immediately.
Tropical Icy Fruit Pops Makes 10-12 Ingredients: 4 kiwis, peeled and sliced into ½ inch discs 6 strawberries, hulled and cut in half lengthwise 1 cup fresh blueberries 1 mango, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes 1 cup pineapple chunks 2 ½ cups lemon-lime sweetened sparkling water 10-12 popsicle molds Directions: Distribute the pieces of fruit throughout the popsicle molds, trying to spread the types of fruit out throughout the molds so you have colorful popsicles. Carefully pour the sparkling water over the fruit, stopping ½ inch from the top. Place the molds in the freezer for at least 6 hours. Overnight is best. Once frozen, dip the molds in warm water to easily remove the popsicles. Serve immediately.
Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream Bars Makes 8 to 10 Ingredients: custard base: ¾ cup half and half 3 egg yolks ½ cup sugar 1 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk 1 ½ cup heavy cream 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract raspberry puree: 1 ½ cups raspberries 1/3 cup sugar 1 lemon, juiced 8-10 popsicle molds Directions: Place the half and half in a saucepan and bring to a scald. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and condensed milk until the mixture has thickened and turned into a pale yellow color. (This can be done with a hand mixer/stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.) Pour a small amount of the scalded half and half into the yolk mixture and whisk. Continue adding the remaining half and half to the mixture, whisking to prevent scrambling. Pour the entire mixture back into the saucepan and gently stir on low heat until the mixture thickens enough to generously coat the back of a spoon. Strain the mixture into mixing bowl sitting over a prepared ice bath and stir in the cream. Allow the custard to cool completely. Cover the custard with plastic wrap, placed directly on top of the custard and put in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. (Overnight is ideal.) Following the manufacturers instructions pour the chilled custard based into the ice cream maker and allow to partially freeze. Once the ice cream looks only partially frozen (should still be able to pour custard at this point) remove the ice cream from the ice cream maker and set aside. Place the ingredients for the raspberry puree into a food processor and process until smooth 2 minutes. Push the mixture through a strainer to remove the seeded. Pour the vanilla ice cream into each mold, filling each by half. Pour 2 tablespoons of the raspberry puree into the molds and finish with the remaining ice cream. Using a bamboo skewer, gently stir up each popsicle mixture to distribute the raspberry puree throughout the ice cream and to create decorative swirl patterns. Place the molds in the freezer and freeze overnight. Once frozen, remove from molds and serve immediately.