Congratulations Susie! You were “lucky number” 72. You’ll be receiving Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone in the mail shortly. Thank you to everyone for participating and be sure to stay tuned! There are more giveaways in the works.
PS: If it’s hot like an oven where you are right now be sure to check out the various pops I made last week:
Or visit the IcyPops.com website for additional inspiration.
Happy 4th of July! These are by far my favorite pops from our “Popsicle Week” adventures. How can you possibly not love anything that looks like a rocket ship?! And they’re green to boot, although I’m quite sure that real aliens probably don’t taste like pistachios. Using these Rocket Pop molds really made me wish that someone sold a popsicle tray Tardis. I think the Doctor would approve of Blueberry Tardis Pops, don’t you?
Pistachio Pudding Pops
Adapted from Krystina Castella’s new book: Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone published by Quirk Books.
Variations of additional Pudding Pops can be found at IcyPops.com
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups milk (Note: Do yourself a favor and use whole milk)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups shelled pistachios
Green food coloring
In a food processor or blender, grind 3/4 cup of the nuts to a paste. (Note: I couldn’t get my pistachios to form a paste without adding a teaspoon or two of water).
In a saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt.
Add the milk and pistachios and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly for 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the heat as soon as the mixture thickens. (Note: This took approximately 12 minutes for me on a gas stove).
Stir in the butter until melted. Add the vanilla. Let cool in refrigerator for 10 minutes.
Add 3 drops green food coloring and mix with a spoon to combine.
Pour into the pop molds. Insert the sticks. Freeze for at least 8 hours.
Remove from the freezer. Let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes before removing the pops from the molds. (Note: Be gentle! I found that running the molds under warm water also helped to neatly loosen them).
My first batch of Root Beer Float pops bubbled up and created a sticky lava flow all over the frozen broccoli and chicken breasts in my freezer. So you’d think that the second time I made them I’d manage to not repeat the same mistake twice, right? Well, what do you suppose I did two hours into the freezing process after noticing that the popsicles weren’t filling out the molds as I’d hoped? Why panicked of course! Than made CK come into the kitchen to debate whether or not we should add more root beer.
I thought maybe the Virgil’s Root Beer that I used this time would behave differently when frozen than the Mug Root Beer I’d used in the first batch. Don’t laugh! It’s been eight years since I’ve had a science class. So CK and I decided we should add more root beer to the molds with a turkey baster. It was pretty ridiculous. Of course three hours later the pops overflowed again. Not to the extent that they did the first time but they still pushed the tops of the pop molds up.
The author of the cookbook, Krystina Castella, was kind enough to send me a note last night and offered the following additional advice surrounding the exploding soda pop phenomenon:
Even though these pops gave me a host of gooey trouble it’s hard to stay mad at something so frosty and delicious. The best part is the hidden bite of Maraschino Cherry!
Root Beer Float Pops
Adapted from Krystina Castella’s new book: Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone published by Quirk Books.
Makes six 8-ounce pops or eight 6-ounce pops
4 cups Root Beer
6 or 8 Maraschino Cherries, stemmed
2 1/2 cups Vanilla Ice Cream
Pour cold root beer into a pitcher and put it in the freezer for 10 minutes. (This will make it very cold reduce the ice cream melt factor).
Put a cherry in each mold. Pour some root beer into each mold until it is half full.
Gently lower a small scoop of ice cream into each pop mold so it is about three quarters full.
Slowly add more root beer until the molds are full. Scoop off the foam with a spoon. Freeze for at least 6 hours.
Remove from the freezer; let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes before removing the pops from the molds.
Contrary to popular belief not everything in my kitchen comes out camera ready. In fact, more often than I’d like to admit some dishes come out looking like this. A warning to you all: if the popsicle box instructions state that you should leave a half inch of room at the top of the mold you should do just that. As liquids freeze they expand, and if you’re a greedy jerk and choose not to heed their words of advice you’ll end up with a freezer shelf full of exploding Root Beer Float pops. Still tasty, but not exactly pretty and very sticky. Stay tuned! Take two for these treats will occur tomorrow.
Have I succeeded in convincing you about the absolute must-have status of this cookbook yet? Are you ready to test your luck at potentially winning a copy of Krystina Castella’s Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone? If so, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post (one comment per person please). A winner will be selected via the nifty random number generator next Monday, July 7th at noon (sorry guys I’ve got a date this week with a beach and some SPF 45) and than I’ll promptly ship the cookbook to your home. Good luck!
As previously promised Popsicle week has at last arrived. Thankfully these pops are awesome because I think I gave myself temporary carpal tunnel syndrome after juicing eight limes by hand with a ridiculously flimsy plastic juicer. Obviously a sturdier tool is going right to the top of my shopping list. By the time I finished with my popsicle prep hard labor my hands were completely shriveled from the lime juice and looked as though I’d been soaking in a hot soapy bath for two hours.
The remainder of the recipe is dead simple though and since I only made one batch of pops with my new Shooting Star Pop Molds I had half a pitcher of mojito mix left over. A few extra splashes of rum, some ice cubes and immediate cocktail satisfaction is yours. This definitely makes the wait for these icy citrus dreams slightly more tolerable.
 Loosen Up Your Fingers & Prepare for Battle |
 The Aftermath |
 Muddle |
 Time to Freeze |
Mojito Pops
Adapted from Krystina Castella’s new book: Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone published by Quirk Books.
Makes 24 two-ounce ice cube-tray pops, six 8-ounce pops, or eight 6-ounce pops (Note: Or be like me and make six popsicles and three nice sized mojitos to share while you’re waiting for the pops to freeze).
1 1/2 cups fresh lime juice (Note: I used 8 limes)
2 1/2 cups Club Soda
1/3 cup fresh mint leaves
1 lemon, peeled and cut into wedges
3 limes, peeled and cut into wedges
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons light rum
Pour the lime juice, club soda, and 1 cup water into a pitcher and let sit for 5 minutes.
Add the mint, lemon and lime wedges, sugar, and rum to the pitcher. Mash all of the ingredients together with a muddler or a wooden spoon.
Pour into pop molds, being sure to distribute the fruits and mint evenly among the molds. Insert the sticks. Freeze for at least 12 hours. Remove from the freezer; let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes before removing the pops from the molds.
For more popsicle ideas and information please visit IcyPops.com.
