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:

• Open the soda and put it in a pitcher in the fridge for a bit (5-20 minutes) depending on how much you want to flatten the liquid.

• Once the fizz is mostly out of the soda put it in the pop molds leaving 1/2 inch at top and it should turn out fine.

• If you like the airy texture that you get from using carbonated soda than let the liquid flatten for a shorter period of time

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.

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.

Don’t forget! You have until Noon (EST) on Monday, July 7th to enter the contest to win your very own copy of Krystina Castella’s Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone. Simply follow this link and leave a comment. It couldn’t be easier.

Growing up popsicles were simple affairs.  Since my favorite color was and still is purple I would only eat grape popsicles.  This meant our freezer was usually well stocked with cherry, lime, and orange until I got hard up enough to eat the other flavors.  If I ever made homemade ice pops I did so covertly using Mountain Dew (I’m losing my mind a little just thinking about this) and an ice cube tray studded with toothpicks.  As I’ve mentioned before I was a kitchen sneak.  Occasionally I also attempted to recreate pudding pops in pastel Dixie cups but they never tasted as good as the ones Bill Cosby urged us to beg our moms for during Saturday morning cartoons.  Unfortunately this led me to really not care for traditional popsicles at all.

But then I discovered Krystina Castella’s new book: Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone (published by Quirk Books) and simply put I’m absolutely blown away by the fantastic liberties she has taken with what is generally considered by the vast majority of families as a frozen grape juice concoction topped off with a craft stick.  Please believe me when I say that you have never seen popsicles like this before.  These pops are multi-layered, full of complex flavors, and truly unique ingredient blends.

The table of contents includes sections on: Healthy Energy Pops, Fruit Juice Pops, Soda Fountain Pops, Cream and Pudding Pops, Coffee and Tea Pops, and Cocktail Pops.  The “Cocktail Pops” section in particular caught my eye since it includes a Mojito Pop and I’ve been on a huge mojito kick lately.  Other pops I can’t wait to test out include Sweet Martini Pops, Thai Iced Coffee Pops, and Sugar Pumpkin Pops.  I don’t know about you, but Summer just got about twenty times more exciting for me!  In the introduction to the cookbook Krystina mentions the term “kidults” and how popsicles fit right into this cupcake buying, toy loving, crafty “grown-up” lifestyle.  I couldn’t agree more.

Please stay tuned for “Popsicle Week” on ErinCooks.com and my recreation of a few of Krystina’s amazing treats.  You’ll have to bare with me.  I had to order popsicle molds from Amazon and I’m impatiently awaiting their arrival.  The Kitchn recently posted an excellent article on summer popsicle molds and I purchased several of these items.  If you are lucky enough to already own molds than please feel free to dive right in and check out the accompanying cookbook website appropriately called IcyPops.com for ideas and recipes.

My friend Melissa and I have a long running complaint about the state of walkable lunch spots near our office. While the hands down favorite is definitely Brown Sugar Cafe, a girl cannot survive on Masaman Curry alone (as much as we might like to). So for the most part I bring my lunch and once a week venture out to one of the very few places that doesn’t require me to get back on the T. Almost all of these locations are chain restaurants like Bertuccis or TGI Fridays. Sometimes, if I get hard up enough, I’ll just get a Skinny Vanilla Latte and some Fruit & Nut mix from Starbucks and call it a day.

Last week though Melissa talked me into going to Boloco. A place I’ve avoided for years because for some unknown reason I’d convinced myself that it was gross and that I didn’t like burritos (what?!) and no way was I going in there. In hindsight this is all completely ridiculous. The line spilling out the door every day of the week and blocking my Starbucks addicted self from getting around them, would probably cue a sensible person into the fact that this little establishment offered up some fine lunch treats.

So with much suspicion and trepidation I ordered their “Summer Burrito” with Tofu. The “Summer Burrito” consists of black beans, mango salsa, melted cheese, cilantro, and rice, all folded up neatly in a flour tortilla. In the interest of full disclosure my first bite of this purchase was not good. The tofu was shockingly tough and pretty much inedible, but after removing it from the other ingredients (and also hiding it from view–yes it was that unappetizing in appearance) I happily finished the entire thing.

I’ve been on a mango kick recently, and I loved the flavors of the mango and cilantro combo so much that I instantly wanted to recreate the filling at home. Below is my attempt at doing so. I did run into a puzzling incident while I was making this dish. I literally opened five cans of Goya Black Beans and they were all spoiled. Three of the cans were newly purchased. After I vetoed the contents of those (since they were really revolting, sort of sludgy and foamy and very broken) I sent CK out to pick up more at the little store at the end of our street and I kid you not, those cans were bad too. Unfortunately, I had to ask poor CK to get in the car and go to Whole Foods where we at last found cans of black beans that didn’t look like a science experiment in fermentation. Has this happened to anyone else? Was there a huge Goya recall that I missed, because these beans were practically alien life forms living incognito in tin cans.

Anyway, after the bean debacle I finally threw everything together and served the dish with white corn chips. We both really enjoyed it. I hope you will too!

Boloco Summer “Burrito” Knock-Off at Home

Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 onion, diced
1 package of frozen mango, thawed
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Juice of one lime
3 cups of cooked rice (replacing water with chicken broth)
1 can of black beans (15.5 oz), rinsed
Sour Cream
Cheddar Cheese
Tortilla chips or burrito shells

Heat the oil in a skillet and saute the onion until softened but not browned. Add the mango and cilantro and cook until heated through.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan warm the beans over medium heat. Squeeze the limes over the mango and onions. Layer individual bowls with rice, beans, and the onion and mango concoction. Top with grated cheddar and a dollop of sour cream. Serve with tortilla chips, or you can also roll all of the fillings into a burrito shell.

Sally Sampson’s newest cookbook, Recipe of the Week: Ice Cream, is going to get me into a lot of trouble.  Specifically, trouble with buttons not closing, pants not fitting, and no-doubt many a ruined appetite for dinner.  Ice cream is my Achilles heel.  I walk by the neatly frozen pints in the freezer case with a hangdog expression of thinly concealed lust.  I know I shouldn’t have it, but everyone has to break the rules sometime and that’s where SaIly comes in.

I admire the simplicity of this book on so many levels.  Sampson finds no need to wax poetic on the merits of ice cream — we, as her consumers, know that ice cream is phenomenal on an inherently addictive level so on with the show.  And oh what a show it is!  All of the frozen treat bases are covered from custard based ice creams to gellatos, sorbets, and granitas.  If that isn’t enough to peak your interest, how about the thought of one of these tempting flavors waiting for you in a big cold bowl: Graham Cracker Malted Vanilla Ice Cream, Triple Coconut, Molasses Ginger Snap Gelato - do I even need to continue?  Sampson also has a number of unusual flavors to peak your curiosity.  Have you ever wondered what Balsamic and Black Pepper Gelato might taste like?  How about Avocado Gelato?

My first foray into ice cream making was a given. I’m a cookie dough kind of girl.  I was also doubly excited to test out my new KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker attachment and also to have “permission” to make an entire bowl of cookie dough just to snack on.  After whipping up my favorite Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie batter I followed Sally’s straightforward instructions and watched with excitement as ice cream started to take shape on my counter.  To make us all feel slightly better about our new dependency I should point out that the recipes in this book are lower in sugar and fat than most commercially prepared ice creams.

To celebrate the release of Sally’s Sampson’s supremely summer appropriate cookbook, local ice cream legend Gus Rancatore (who also gave Sally ice cream making lessons and advice during the preparation of this collection) will be hosting a book party.

Monday June 16, 2008
6:00PM - 7:30PM
at Toscaninis in Central Square
899 Main Street
Cambridge, MA

So please stop by to meet Sally, get your book signed, and also enjoy a free scoop of ice cream!

Cookie Dough Ice Cream
Available in Sally Sampson’s cookbook Recipe of the Week: Ice Cream published by Wiley Press

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 sugar syrup (Note: Per Sally - Place 1 cup white sugar and 1 cup water in a small saucepan and cook, over medium high heat, until the sugar has completely dissolved, about 3 minutes.  Set aside to cool, cover and refrigerate up to 1 month).
1 teaspoon vanilla (Note: I recommend using a really good quality, expensive vanilla. I rather lazily used the McCormicks in my cupboard and I really wish that I had picked up a bottle of Nielsen-Massey.  Next time I definitely will).
1 1/2 cups of your favorite raw cookie dough, such as chocolate chip or oatmeal

Place the milk, cream, sugar syrup, and vanilla extract in a bowl and whisk well.  Transfer to an ice cream maker and proceed according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  When the ice cream is just beginning to come together but has not hardened completely, add spoonfuls of the cookie dough and process for about 5 more minutes.