Homemade popsicles are a thing of nostalgia for me. As a kid, I would spend weeks at my grandparent’s house during the summer. One of our morning tasks would be to mix a pitcher of Kool-Aid to pour into the popsicle molds to enjoy in the afternoon heat.
This blog post isn’t to convince you I invented the popsicle. I’m pretty sure that credit goes to the abominable snowman or some Pinterest mom that has created “101 Homemade Popsicle Recipes that are sugar-free, fat-free, vegan, keto, and zero-calorie.” At that point, you’re just crunching on ice cubes or frozen chalk. Delicious. Aside from the sense of nostalgia, I have been making popsicles throughout the summer as a pre-portioned treat to eat after I’ve completed my afternoon runs.
Like most people, I can’t be trusted to eat a few scoops of ice cream or just have one cookie. My sister had a birthday a few weeks ago, from which I took home a large piece of birthday cake. But the car ride was long, and in the end, it didn’t make it through the front door; Publix birthday cake is my drug of choice. To stave off the temptation of buying a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, I’ve found having a fruit-flavored popsicle at the ready can satisfy a sweet tooth.
In no particular order, here are the three homemade popsicle recipes I’ve been creating throughout the summer.
Patriotic Pops
This is the most involved of the three recipes. I’d like to start by dazzling you with my popsicle-making talents and then introduce you to more obtainable methods as we go along. The fruit takes time to stiffen up between layers, and you’ll need a blender (and maybe a timer if you get easily distracted). I started out by blending strawberries, raspberries, and two tablespoons of vanilla yogurt in the blender. My popsicle mold holds about ⅓ of a cup in each container. One could easily do the math by adding the volume and dividing it into thirds, but I don’t want to overwhelm you with my math talents. Let’s just focus on my popsicle-making skills for today.
I chose to just eyeball how much of each layer was going into the mold. I started with my strawberry/raspberry mixture and placed the mold in the freezer for 20 minutes. Since I didn’t measure everything to an exact science, I had a bit of blended fruit leftover, which I enjoyed as I waited for the molds to take shape.
The middle portion is vanilla yogurt. Thankfully, my popsicle mold came with a funnel. This made it easy to get the yogurt into the tiny mold and create a clean line at the top. Dropping the yogurt in with a spoon will cause it to run down the sides, making it less instagramable. If you don’t plan on impressing your friends and family via the internet, a big spoon and a dollop of yogurt will still taste the same.
The popsicle mold doesn’t need to go back in the freezer after the yogurt layer; it’s thick enough to support itself. The last layer is blueberries and two tablespoons of yogurt blended together. Fill the cups with the remaining blueberry mixture. Then, the most important part of this whole process, insert the popsicle stick lids. Trust me, you don’t want to feel the panic when you’re cleaning up and then realize all the lids are still in the dishwasher.
Pineapple Coconut Pops
Don’t put your blender away quite yet. This second popsicle recipe is less mathematical but still requires a blender. In a small blender, add pineapple, coconut milk, and two tablespoons of honey. Again, I just eyeballed what felt right and drank the leftovers when adding the amounts into the blender (Pinterst moms everywhere are rolling their eyes at my lack of detail). Pour the blended pineapple mixture into the molds, add the popsicle lids, and pop into the freezer.
This one’s my favorite of the three. Pineapple and coconut go together like chocolate and peanut butter. It’s also the sweetest and creamiest of the lot. If you want no flair but all flavor, this is the one to try.
Mixed Berry Lemonade Pops
This last homemade popsicle is the easiest. No blender is required. All you’ll need is a bag of frozen mixed berries and lemonade. Pack the molds with as many or as few of the frozen berries as you would like. Pour lemonade in the molds and watch as the berries thaw and bleed magenta fruit juice into the mold. Dying the entire popsicle. Some of the berries had to be wiggled out of the way when adding the popsicle lids. If the berries are still a little frozen, they may not want to move. You can either threaten to forcefully remove them from their new home or wait for them to thaw out a bit more before snapping on the lids. Both are effective methods.
There are a million more homemade popsicle recipes on the internet. I wanted to plant the seed in your mind that it’s possible to make and enjoy a fun, sweet treat without eating a pint of ice cream. For the remainder of the summer, you can find me enjoying a popsicle on my patio watching an afternoon storm pass.
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Wow, those popsicles look so yummy! I’m going to try making the mixed berry one. I had no idea they were so easy to make.