Summer here in Houston can be evil, particularly when the thermometer crests triple digits like it did for much of July. The A/C keeps things relatively pleasant but after working in the garden or going for a run, one just craves a summer frozen treat. The problem is that the treats at the store which are relatively health are pricey, pricey. I mean 6 bucks for 6 fudge bars. Geez.
Over the summer, strawberries were readily available and frankly I couldn’t get enough of them. The problem is sometimes when I get them they are VERY ripe. Too ripe to keep for very long. So I often need to something with them within 48 hours. I’ve kind of wanted to make frozen and tasty with them, but I don’t have an ice cream maker and have been emphatically told by my spouse that I “don’t need another damn kitchen gadget”. So I tried to make frozen yogurt with no ice cream maker, which resulted in a supreme fail.
I wondered if popsicles or creamsicles would be easier to make. So I bought a mold and created a strawberry concoction to put into the molds.
- 1 quart strawberries
- 7 oz of Sweetened condensed milk (1/2 a can)
- Put strawberries and condensed milk into a blender.
- Blend until smooth.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the popsicle molds.
- Place in freezer and let set at least overnight.
My biggest concern was seeing if the mixture would
- solidify properly
- not be so solid that I couldn’t get it out of the mold
Although getting the final product loose required some careful application of hot water on the exterior of the mold, the trial was a success. I was pretty psyched about making these successfully .
Spurred on by my success, I investigated other possible flavors. My searching revealed recipes for mocha popsicles. Considering my coffee addiction and the fact I am a sucker for mocha these looked SO good. I decided to try a simple recipe for Mocha Popsicles on A Cozy Kitchen. The final product more than lived up to the hype. My only compliant and it really isn’t a complaint, but a desire. I’d like them more ice creamy. I feel this way about pretty much every frozen treat I’ve made. So I’ve got to so some further investigating to figure out how to get the ice creamy texture and it really is a texture not a taste issue.
I’m thinking about trying Alton Brown’s recipe and seeing if I can make it mocha instead of straight up chocolate. Another thing I’d like to do is try to get spice chocolate fudgesicles. My absolute favorite flavor of Jeni’s Ice Cream is the Queen City Cayenne. I had some last week when I was in OH for work and it was awesome. Thank goodness I don’t live here otherwise I’d have trouble not having it as a regular dessert. That being said, I’d love to be able to make fudgesicles that replicate that flavor. Chocolately and spicy can’t be beat IMHO!
Tonight I used a batch of cherry juice from the canned cherries I used in my Thanksgiving cherry pie to make cherry creamsicles. OMG, they were so to die for!
- 1 cup cherry juice
- 7 oz of Sweetened condensed milk (1/2 a can)
- Mix together cherry juice and condensed milk. Blend well with whisk.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the popsicle molds.
- Place in freezer and let set at least overnight.
Making these treats from scratch is awesome because I typically buy some frozen treat in the summer time and homemade ones are definitely preferable because
- They cost less
- They use up my farmer’s market and CSA goods
- They can be made to have little or no added sugar making them more spouse friendly