Bring Back Your Childhood with These Popsicle Recipes

Please note: Eileen Goltz is a freelance kosher food writer. The Orthodox Union makes no endorsements or representations regarding kashrut certification of various products/vendors referred to in her articles, blog or web site.

There is nothing like a popsicle to quench your thirst after a hot hot hot Shabbat walk. We’ve all, at one time or another, filled up paper cups with juice or a fruit purée and juice mixture, plunked a popsicle stick in it and stuck it in the freezer for 4 or 5 hours and, voila, The Popsicle (yes, a popsicle mold works just as well, but they’re not nearly as much fun as trying to get the popsicle stick to stay right in the middle of the cup and not lean drunkenly to one side).

Since it’s such a kid-friendly treat, it’s only fitting that a nice Jewish 11-year-old boy named Frank invented the popsicle. Ok, he did it by accident in 1903 and he originally named it the Epsicle (his last name was Epperson), but by the time his kids got hold of the frozen treat it had been renamed the popsicle and history, as they say, was made.

While buying popsicles is now the way most enjoy the cold delicious treat, I’m going to suggest that, as a fun summer project, moms and dads and kids of all ages challenge themselves to create wonderful and delicious homemade (no artificial colors, flavors or weird ingredients) popsicles. They’re for anytime during the week when work, the kids, the sun and the fun have worn you down and you need to recharge your batteries.

NOTE:  some of the recipes require Simple Syrup. Easy to make:

Simple Syrup

Ingredients:

• ½ cup water
• ½ sugar

Instructions:

1. Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan and cook over a medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Let cool.

This recipe can be doubled or tripled depending on how much you need. It will stay in the refrigerator for a few weeks.

Banana Split Popsicles (dairy)

6 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 banana
• ½ cup milk
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/3 cup vanilla yogurt
• 1/3 cup milk
• ¼ cup chocolate chips or ¼ cup chocolate syrup
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 4 strawberries or raspberries, fresh or frozen
• ¼ to ½ cup milk
• Popsicle molds or plastic cups

Instructions:

1. In a blender or food processor combine the banana, honey, and milk. Process until smooth. Pour into Popsicle molds or 8 oz plastic cups until the mold or cup is 1/3 full. Place in the freezer and let set for at least 1 hour.
2. Then, in the blender or food processor, combine the vanilla yogurt, milk, chocolate chips or syrup and honey. Gently spoon the chocolate mixture on top of the banana mixture until the cup or mold is 2/3 full. If you are using a cup, this is when you put the stick in, pushing it through the frozen banana layer so it stays in place.
3. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.
4. If you are using fresh berries use ¼ cup milk. If you are using frozen berries use ½ cup milk. Process and then gently spoon into the cups or molds (put on the top of the mold). Freeze for at least 3 to 4 more hours.

Submitted by Jerome Weiner, age 10, Skokie, IL; edited by his mom Sheryl.

Citrus Berry Pops (pareve)

8 servings

The trick to the best flavor is to use FRESH fruit (not frozen) in this pop.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup puréed fresh raspberries (keep it a little chunky)
• 1 cup puréed fresh apricots or peaches (keep it a little chunky)
• 1 cup puréed fresh mango (with bits of fruit)
• About ½ cup sugar
• Fresh lemon or lime juice
• Zest of 1 fresh lemon or lime

Instructions:

1. Stir fruit purées in separate bowls and add sugar to taste and lemon or lime juice to taste.
2. Pour the berry mixture about 1/3 up into 8 bar molds, add the sticks, and freeze until firm, about 1 hour. Refrigerate the remaining fruit mixtures.
3. After 1 hour spoon the mango puree into the molds about 2/3’s of the way full and then return them to the freezer for 1 hour.
4. At this point spoon the apricot or peach layer into the mold or cup, cover and freeze for at least 2 more hours or until the top layer is frozen.

Peachy Mango Fruitsicle (pareve)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup puréed mango
• 1 cup puréed ripe peaches
• ¼ cup simple syrup
• Juice of one lime or lemon juice (or to taste) (fresh is best)
• 6 to 8 popsicle sticks

Instructions:

1. Combine fruit purées in a medium bowl and set them aside.
2. Add the simple syrup to the fruit and mix to combine. Add lemon or lime juice to taste. Add to purées with lime or lemon juice to taste.
3. If you have popsicle molds, fill them, leaving some room at the top to allow for expansion. Set the lids in place and insert the sticks through the holes. If you don’t have popsicle molds, fill small cups or empty yogurt tubs about 3/4 full, stretch plastic or foil across the top and make a small slit to insert sticks.
4. Freeze until firmly set, 3 to 4 hours.

My files, source unknown.

Eileen Goltz is a freelance kosher food writer who was born and raised in the Chicago area. She graduated from Indiana University and the Cordon Bleu Cooking School in Paris. She lectures on various food-related topics across the U.S. and Canada and writes weekly columns for the Chicago Jewish News, kosher.com and the OU Shabbat Shalom Website. She is the author of the Perfectly Pareve Cookbook (Feldheim) and is a contributing writer for the Chicken Soup for the Soul Book Group, Chicago Sun Times, Detroit Free Press and Woman’s World Magazine. You can visit Eileen’s blog by clicking: Cuisine by Eileen.

The words of this author reflect his/her own opinions and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Orthodox Union.