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.
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I had always planned to release this fantastically-summery pop in the depths of winter. I imagined-in mid-July when I made it-that I would need a boost of minty green, backyard sunshine. Boy was I right. As I write this (Thursday morning), snow is falling, our heat is sort-of cranking and the wind is whipping past my corner-of-the-house bedroom...This bit of summer in a popsicle is much needed.
One afternoon, with my cousin Zoe in town, I made mint popsicles that we then dipped in chocolate. It was a messy, delicious affair, all done in shorts (a concept I can barely imagine at this moment) and with little regard for responsibility, chapped lips, or snow boots. Aah. My favorite item at the bakery I worked at in high school was the pie cookie. Two small, round pieces of flaky crust with whatever fruit was in season baked into the middle. They were adorable, easy to sell, and clever. This popsicle attempts to recreate that concept, while bringing in a frozen element and the necessity of whipped cream to pumpkin pie. Pumpkin Pie Popsicles
Yield: 6 pair-popsicles | Prep Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 8 hours Ingredients Vanilla ice cream (use this recipe) One sheet store-bought puff pastry 3/4 cup pumpkin puree 1/4 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice Directions Prepare vanilla ice cream per recipe. Pour into molds and freeze until solid. Preheat oven to 350°. Roll out store bought puff pastry sheets. Using a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter, cut twelve pumpkins in puff pastry and place six onto a baking sheet. In a bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, brown sugar, one egg, and pumpkin pie spice. Spoon mixture onto six of the pumpkin rounds. In a separate bowl, mix together one egg and a bit of water. Brush edges of puff pastry pumpkins and lay remaining six rounds over the six rounds with mixture on them. Using a fork, crimp edges to hold together. Brush remaining egg wash over the top of each. Sprinkle with sugar and cut small holes in the top of each to help release steam. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven, insert popsicle sticks, and let cool. Serve warm with vanilla popsicle. At the beginning of this fall, Ken and I set out to make one butternut squash centered recipe every week. Like little fools we assumed that each week's pursuit would be savory. Then, one cold Providence Monday, Ken looked at me and said "what if we make...butternut squash ice cream?" If you have seen the social network, or either version of the Steve Jobs movies, you can probably get a good picture in your mind of what the air in the room felt like. Butternut Squash Popsicles
Yield: 6 popsicles | Prep Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 8 hours Ingredients 1/2 butternut squash Vanilla ice cream (use this recipe) Directions Roast butternut squash at 350° for an hour (I wrapped mine in tin foil so that I didn't have to introduce any oil flavor into the mix). Prepare vanilla ice cream per recipe. Once mixture is prepared, divide into three equal parts. Pour first third into popsicle molds and chill until almost solid. Blend 2/3 of roasted butternut squash into second third of ice cream mixture. Pour on top of white layer and freeze until almost solid. Blend 1/3 of roasted butternut squash into final third of ice cream mixture. Pour on top of dark orange layer and freeze until solid. One thing I have learned this weekend (Ken and I spent the better part of Saturday making pate a choux without a mixer and thinking back on the past) is that my life has had many Important Churros. The not-quite-fried-enough churros in the Castilleja lunchroom, the enormous and fantastic churros at the San Jose Giants stadium, the small, looped, non cinnamon-sugared churros of christmas morning in Madrid. And now, this small, popsicle-stick churro. This popsicle is ridiculous in all the right ways and has certainly made its place on the list. Churro Popsicles
Yield: 12 small popsicles | Prep Time: 2 hours | Total Time: 6 hours Ingredients Churros (use this recipe) Vanilla bean ice cream (use this recipe) Directions Prepare churros according to recipe, but pipe out the dough into a log measuring a bit shorter than your popsicle stick. Chill the piped dough for half an hour before inserting sticks into the logs. Fry the dough and roll through cinnamon sugar. Prepare vanilla ice cream and scoop churned ice cream into dixie cups. Stick churro sticks in as you would popsicle sticks and freeze until solid. To serve, remove cups. Earlier in the summer when I promised a lemon-based popsicle, I was certain that it would be similar to early June's lime pop - simple and direct. But, as July closed in around me, I started to feel panicked that the summer would end without me having made any berry ice cream. As I have already made plenty of berry pops, I decided to join the two pursuits (lemon and berry ice cream). That is how I ended up making a popsicle that asks a lot of the definition of what a popsicle is (for those curious, it is "a piece of flavored ice or ice cream on a stick"). The best way to make ice cream cookies is to choose two pans that you have that are the same size and use those to bake your cookie. I used medium sized loaf pans, because I wasn't trying to make a large quantity of sandwiches. If you were making many, I would recommend a large pyrex. One of the pans should have parchment (along with spray) that is cut in such a way that it protects the bottom and also gives you two strips to pull the contents of the pan out of the pan. I hope that made sense. Bake the cookie while you are churning your ice cream. Let the cookies cool and then scoop your still soft ice cream onto the (somewhat cooled) cookie with the parchment paper below. Gently place the second cookie layer on top and freeze three layers in pan until frozen solid, then cut them up. I used a short bread, because I felt that that would be the best way to showcase the lemon, but in general I would say that shortbread is a terrible idea and that you should make a chewy, sturdy cookie for this task. Also, I linked my favorite super easy summer berry ice cream recipe in this week's email. Use it when you need to make fast ice cream! Use it when you don't need to make fast ice cream but still probably should.
Lemon Raspberry Ice Cream Sandwich Popsicles Yield: 12 small popsicles | Prep Time: 1 hour | Total Time: 7 hours Ingredients For the shortbread (thanks Martha) 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt 1 cup unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan 5 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar For the ice cream (thanks NYT) 1 ¼ cups raspberries 2 cups heavy cream ⅓ cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, as needed ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt Directions Prepare your ice cream liquid per the NYT recipe. Chill the liquid. While the liquid is chilling, make the shortbread according to Martha's instructions, baking the dough in two separate pans of equal size. While the cookies are baking, churn your ice cream. Let the cookies cool a bit out of the oven and then scoop the just-churned ice cream onto the first cookie, layering the second cookie on top. Freeze until solid, then cut into your desired size and slide onto popsicle stick. |