Four years studying English and History and a year spent making popsicles. What have I learned over the past year? I have learned that the shortest time you can count on for a popsicle to freeze solidly is four hours. No matter how hard you wish it, you can't change that. I learned that family and friends will generously put up with random cylinders of test popsicles falling out of their freezer for days, weeks, and months on end. I learned that popsicles can be made and eaten in winter. I learned that there should be more spicy popsicles in the world. I learned loads about English and History, but that is for another project. It was a year of fun, a year of family and friends, and a year of receiving a lot of popsicle-based gifts. Thank you to everyone in my life who supported the project, chatted with me about the week's flavor, or engaged with me about my popsicle plans. It was an absolute joy to get to spend a year churning out popsicles. Now, on to pie. While I would never say no to a spicy plum or raspberry lime popsicle, at the end of the day, I exit this popsicle project how I ended it: deeply in love with lemon popsicles. Perhaps it is my allegiance to my childhood camp "nature" name or maybe I just seek out the tart in life. Regardless of reason, a lemon popsicle is still my go to popsicle. There is no recipe - just freeze lemonade!
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A few nights ago at dinner I asked my roommates if they thought my penultimate popsicle should be a root beer float popsicle. Griffin responded "yes." That is the joy of popsicles. Simplicity. I will miss that feeling in a week. Root Beer Float Popsicles
Yield: 6 popsicles | Prep Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 5 hours Ingredients Vanilla ice cream Root Beer Directions Spoon ice cream into base of molds and let harden. After set, pour in root beer. Freeze until solid. I love yogurt covered pretzels. The amount of times I have made myself sick in a honda-brand car from over eating yogurt covered pretzels? Twenty five times would be my estimate. They are the perfect snack. And thus, due to my somewhat reverent view of the yogurt covered pretzel, this week's popsicle took quite a few attempts to get right. The yogurt had to be sweet enough, the pretzel had to be snappy enough, and the mouth feel had to be similar enough to the real thing that I felt I had done my snack justice. The key? Stale pretzels. Don't be afraid to live vulnerably. Yogurt Covered Pretzel Popsicles
Yield: 6 popsicles | Prep Time: 1 hour | Total Time: 6 hours Ingredients 1/2 cup yogurt 1/2 cup milk 1/3 cup powdered sugar 1/4 cup stale pretzels, chopped Whole stale pretzel sticks Directions Mix together yogurt, milk and powdered sugar. Mix in chopped pretzel bits. Pour into molds and begin to chill. Once semi chilled, insert whole pretzel sticks. Freeze until solid. Tahini is exciting because it can be sweet or savory. In this week's popsicle, it is sweet. I knew I wanted to make a tahini popsicle, but wasn't exactly sure how to cut its thick, intense flavor. While browsing the internet, I came across a fun white chocolate project. The project seemed like a good use of my now-empty afternoons, my impressively large stash of sprinkles that I am trying to use before my exit from Providence, and a bag of white chocolate chips. Thus was born the white chocolate tahini popsicle. White Chocolate Tahini Popsicles
Yield: 4 popsicles | Prep Time: 1 hour | Total Time: 6 hours Ingredients 2 tbsp tahini 2 cups milk (I used lactose free milk but any milk substitute will work) 3/4 cups white chocolate chips Sprinkles Clean bubble wrap Directions Vigorously whisk tahini into milk. Pour into molds and begin to chill. While popsicles are setting, melt chocolate in double broiler or microwave. Spread sprinkles out over bubble wrap. Pour melted chocolate over bubble wrap. Spread into an even layer and let cool. Once hardened, break into pieces and press into the semi-frozen liquid in the molds, along with popsicle sticks. Freeze until solid. |