Highlights: Popsicles

It doesn’t seem like it’s been as miserably hot this summer as it was last summer, overall.  Maybe that’s because of our awesome $20 air conditioner that we picked up at a tag sale.  Maybe it’s because I’ve been teaching summer school in an air conditioned building.  Or maybe its because all of the oppressive summer heat was being stored up for use this week.

We seem to be missing the worst of the hot weather, but it’s been pretty warm here nevertheless.  It seems only appropriate that this week’s highlights focus on something cold: Popsicles.*

Brian and I have been popsicle slackers this year, even though we own this great popsicle mold set:

I think we bought it at Bed, Bath and Beyond, but it’s available on Amazon for $11.95.  I’m not sure why we haven’t made many popsicles this year, but now that I see all of these ideas, I think I may make some this weekend, even if I just freeze orange juice.

Chow has a whole slideshow of desserts from the freezer, including chocolate pudding pops and butterscotch pudding pops.

Enjoy Fudgesicles?  We used to have them at my parent’s house all the time.  I’m pretty sure these fudge popsicles from Smitten Kitchen will get you close to a homemade version.  And the ingredients list is pretty awesome (as in, I already have all but one of the ingredients—whole milk—in my apartment). 

My Recipes has a collection of 12 homemade popsicle recipes including triple decker citrus popsicles, lemon-blueberry twist pops and lime-colada pops.  I’m seriously considering the lime-colada ones for the near future.

I just discovered the Food Republic website last week and it looks like there are some great recipes and articles. These frozen yogurt ice pops with blackberries appear to take a bit more work than some of the other recipes, but they also look and sound delicious.

Mark Bittman (of course!) has another great recipe collection in the NY Times.  He has 3 ice pop recipes for 4 categories: fruity (including peach-ginger), savory (avocado-cilantro), creamy (banana-peanut) and boozy (mojito).  All of them sound awesome.

If you need one more “adult popsicle” recipe, try Endless Simmer’s Strawberry Peach Vodka Collins Popsicles. 

*Did you know that “popsicle” is a trademarked term and the correct general term is ice pop?  Kind of like the way that some people say “Kleenex” when they really mean “tissue”?  Anyway, I use them interchangeably.

image source: The Weather Channel