Strawberry Yogurt Popsicles

It’s strawberry season! And you know what that means! Yes, it means delectably juicy and flavorful strawberries… but it also inevitably means slightly-past-their prime berries that are going mushy, or never-quite-ripened berries that sneaked their way into your box. This recipe turns those berries into pure summer perfection. Plus, it has yogurt in it, so you can claim that it’s healthy…

I based these strawberry yogurt popsicles on a strawberry frozen yogurt recipe I fell in love with from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop, which is full of fabulous recipes. It’s a fantastic fruity frozen yogurt– full of bright strawberry flavor with none of the heaviness of regular ice cream. There’s so much fruit in it, it’s practically a sorbet. But I really didn’t feel like waiting to freeze my ice cream maker insert for 24 hours before I could use my fast-ripening berries, so I decided to just make the mix and freeze it in popsicle molds instead.

It was perfect. Ordinarily the churning action lightens the yogurt and makes it soft and scoopable, but frozen in molds it turned out to make the perfect popsicle texture– icy and firm, but still bite-able. And of course, that summery strawberry flavor still comes through perfectly. I’m betting you could make these with frozen strawberries just as well, if you’re looking for a taste of summer when it’s not the height of strawberry season. Enjoy!

Carrot Cake Ice Cream

Oooh, this is good, you guys. Really good. I swear, I’ve been looking for a good carrot cake ice cream for ages, and I’ve tried it at a bunch of excellent ice cream parlors, but this is definitely the best one I have EVER had. It starts with my carrot cake jam (which I really can’t get enough of, in case you couldn’t tell), which gets swirled generously into a no-churn ice cream that tastes like frozen cream cheese frosting. Add in a generous handful of graham cracker crumbs (you could add nuts as well), and you have a sinfully delicious scoop of creamy, gooey-chewy (that’s a word, right?), carrot cake-y goodness.

Once you’ve made the jam, this recipe takes almost no time at all to come together, and I guarantee it’s worth the effort. I’m already plotting when I can make my next batch, because I’m already reaching the bottom of the container on this one and can’t stand the thought of running out!

Peach Melba Popsicles

You need to make these– they’re so easy, so delicious, and honestly so pretty, that they’re easily worth the 10 minutes of time out of your day. I actually started making these last summer, and was shocked to realize that I’d never blogged about them!

Peach Melba is a classic dessert made of a poached peach half with vanilla ice cream, topped with raspberry purée. Being so simple and so focused on fruit, the combination translates beautifully to popsicles. I’m sure these would be delicious with fresh raspberries and peaches, but honestly I find it easier (and often cheaper) to use frozen fruit instead. Swirl in a few scoops of grocery store vanilla ice cream, and you’re basically set! The taste, combined with the beautiful marbled effect, will make everyone think you’re a culinary genius!

Frozen S’mores

My daughter has recently been bubbling over with enthusiasm over s’mores– that sticky-sweet concoction of chocolate, graham crackers, and toasted marshmallows, sacred to campfires everywhere. Personally, I find them too sweet, and prefer plain toasted marshmallows without the extraneous crackers and chocolate to get in the way– but I’ve never been one to pass up a challenge when I see one!

We decided to adapt the s’mores to the warm summer weather by turning them into a frozen dessert! We mixed pre-toasted marshmallows into a no-churn ice cream base and added a ribbon of dark chocolate ganache, then layered it between sheets of graham crackers to make cold and creamy, sweet and sticky treats that (admittedly) melt in your hands but are worth it!

Berry-Yogurt Breakfast Popsicles

I’ve been in a popsicle mood lately (no surprise given the summer weather), so I’ve been turning to some old favorites for desserts. They’re perfect on a warm summer evening– but what about the rest of the day? Especially when the weather is this nice, there’s no reason one should have to wait until after dinner for a popsicle, right?

Enter the breakfast popsicle. You heard me– a breakfast popsicle! I often have fruit and yogurt for breakfast, so what could possibly be wrong with eating it in a slightly more fun form? A frozen form. On a stick.

Mini Baked Alaskas

Lately it’s been so hot that ice cream has been the order of the day– whether in a cone or on a stick, we can’t get enough of it! But it’s always nice to spice things up a bit, so when I found myself with an extra layer of cake and some egg whites (both left over from an ice-cream cake, by the way), I knew just what I wanted to try– baked Alaska!

I think I first heard of it as a kid when watching the movie “Annie,” as the cook is describing to Annie what’s for dinner at Mr. Warbucks’s house (Texas grapefruit, Virginia ham, Idaho potatoes, Wisconsin cheese, Washington apples, and baked Alaska). Curious, I looked it up and discovered that it was a delectable-sounding confection of cake, ice cream, and meringue that could be baked without melting! I also got a mini-lesson in the insulating properties of foam…

That being said, I never got around to trying or making it, until now! I don’t really have much of a recipe for anything other than the meringue– to be safe I made a Swiss meringue, where you heat the egg whites with the sugar to kill off any bacteria. But aside from that, you can use ice cream, fillings, and cake of your choice.

Churro Ice Cream Tacos

Ice cream! Tacos! Ice cream tacos!

I know, it sounds a little weird, but ice cream tacos are my current favorite summer dessert. The shells are deep-fried and rolled in cinnamon-sugar (like churros), then filled with all your favorite ice cream sundae fixings. The warm, crispy, slightly chewy taco shell gives way to a cold, melty ice cream center, and it all combines with your selected sauces and toppings to make for an unforgettable summer experience. Messy, but unforgettable!

Orange-Almond No-Churn Ice Cream

With the warmer weather I’ve been craving ice cream– it can be tough to find it in stores these days, but who needs store-bought ice cream? I figured I’d make it no-churn to avoid having to sit through half an hour of the annoyingly loud noise of the ice cream machine. My standard recipe involves whipped cream and sweetened condensed milk, but I decided to liven it up with a big dollop of marmalade.

Of course, I never leave well enough alone, so I made some caramelized almonds to fold into the ice cream right before freezing. The almonds alone were amazing– so easy to make and addictively crunchy– and they added a nice layer of flavor to the bitter orange ice cream.

Coconut Ice Cream with Roasted Pineapple

On our not-so-recent Hawaiian vacation (I still miss the islands!) my daughter spied an ice cream shop selling Pineapple-Coconut ice cream and was instantly drooling at the thought. We bought some, and it was decadently creamy and coconut-y, but there was next to no pineapple, which made it somewhat disappointing given that “pineapple” was the first word in the name. I vowed then and there to make my own version, though as you’ll see below I didn’t technically keep that vow…

The coconut ice cream was simple– while I’ve made custard-based ice creams before, for this recipe I decided to go with an eggless base to ensure that the eggy richness of custard didn’t overpower the coconut flavor. It totally worked– the finished ice cream was creamy and coconut-y, and (unlike many homemade ice creams) scooped smoothly and easily right out of the freezer. I toasted half of the coconut to add an extra dimension of flavor and some texture, and really liked the result. All in all, an excellent ice cream.

Nectarine Swirl Ice Cream

Another contribution to the annual ice cream social– nectarine ice cream!

I admit, I’d intended to make peach ice cream, but in browsing the internet I was informed that nectarines can be pureed into the cream without bothering to remove the skins, which I was all in favor of, since peeling peaches is a pain. Since the flavor is very similar, I decided to go with nectarines and also reap the benefit of the rosy hue imparted to the ice cream by the red-orange skins.

This recipe is pretty straightforward– fruit, cream, some honey to round things out and some sour cream for tang. What’s not to like? The finished ice cream is smooth and creamy, and I’ve been told that it tastes like summer. What more could you ask for as a recommendation?

I also decided at the last minute to add an extra swirl of a really basic nectarine (or in this case peach because I didn’t have any more nectarines) sauce to amp up the flavor even more. It’s optional, though, so you decide!