New Recipe: Apricot Honey Popsicles
Feel free to change them out for any other fruit; I made them the last two weeks with peaches instead of apricots.
Afternoon snacks that are cold are well-appreciated this time of year.
My popsicle molds are starting to wear out. I’ve had a lot of questions before about them and they aren’t making them anymore. I know many of you were concerned that a popsicle mold was out of your budget.
I walked into Walmart last month, and on an end cap near the entrance, they had these:
At $1.88 for a popsicle mold that makes 4 popsicles, hopefully these will fit in everyone’s budget.
What I like about these (and my old ones) is that you don’t have to buy popsicle sticks, so there’s no added expense. I also like that they aren’t sitting in a tray–I’ve had those kind before, and they tend to tip over on the trip from the counter to the freezer.
Popsicles are easy. Whole fruit popsicles are no harder than mixing some fruit in the blender and pouring them in molds. You can use a couple of tablespoons of honey to sweeten them if you like. Making them is so much less expensive than buying them.
You can also use something simple, like the leftover bits of fruit and the syrup you canned them in. You can even just blend your canned fruit together with the syrup and pour them into molds.
Use the mixture to make several batches of popsicles. You can substitute cantelope, watermelon, or even Armenian cucumbers, once they’ve turned orange and sweet.
Whatever you make, let the popsicles sit in the freezer for at least 5 hours or overnight. I generally make popsicles in the morning for that afternoon, or before I make dinner for the next day’s snacks. Popsicles will freeze better inside the frezer, rather than on the door.
To loosen the popsicles, run cool water over them until they slide out easily. (I keep a small ice cream bucket near the sink to catch the water to use in the garden, but a bowl would work too).
Lightly sweetened stewed rhubarb makes a tasty, refreshing popsicle, too. I always fill a few of the ice tups for the grandkids, & for myself as well, while I am working in the rhubarb in the spring.
Thanks for the reminder about popsicles Brandy. We bought our inexpensive molds at Wal-Mart and they’ve worked great. I hope everyone has a great summer!
Thank you for this wonderful posting and the others from earlier in this week! The weather is 100+ F here so popsicles are a wonderful treat in the summer. As a child, my mother would take Kool-Aid, juice, flavored water (her version), lemonade, and put it in ice trays and the ice cubes were our treat. We would go outside and play in the water, sprinklers, water balloons, squirt guns, and then have our “popsicles.” Such a good way to stay cool. My mother did not let us eat the ice cubes/popsicles in the house but eating them outside added to the fun and kept us feeling cool. She also froze fruit which was fun to eat outside on a hot day or in the warm evening.
Cucumber popsicles sound delicious. I love cucumber slices with lemon in water. It would make a great savory appetizer for adults., with some nice mint maybe. I have to try that.
My daughter and I actually made your peach pie popsicles yesterday! They were soooooo good! I did add some more sugar to the mixture though. I think our peaches were a little tart. Also, if you are fortunate to live by an IKEA (I live right down the road from one), they have them for $1.99 that holds 6 pops. They work well too. Check after summer too because they will clearance them!
All of these look scrumptious! This is the first year we’ve grown Armenian cucumbers, and I didn’t know about them turning orange and sweet. That’s good to know, for the times one is hidden from view until they’re very mature.
Technically they are a type of melon. They are very good at that point. If you want to collect seeds to plant next year, you need to let them get orange first to have mature seeds.
dollar tree has some too..smaller..but i like them
http://www.amazon.com/Ozera-Popsicle-Molds-Toddlers-Small/dp/B00JKF0C9U/ref=pd_sim_79_7?ie=UTF8&refRID=08RA0ZHBB1M5T8473WHW
these are FINALLY marked down a little…but toddler wastes so MUCH of his….plus i’m thinking you could make candy or chocolate rings with it??
Mmmm, they look so delicious and so much healthier than the store bought popsicles!
Beautiful pictures by the way, I wish I could shoot pictures like that! 🙂
I agree! I also enjoyed reading the stories that go along with the recipes. Looks like something we’ll need to try.
The icypoles look so yummy although it’s the middle of Winter here in Melbourne Australia. I’ve bought molds from the Savers op shops for just a few dollars. I’ll try your recipes when Summer comes around.
We fill ours with leftover sweet tea and lemonade and make Arnold Palmer pops, I’m thinking hibiscus tea pops would be good and maybe sweetened coffee ones…Ohh and maybe some that taste like an orange push-up… Ok now I’m craving one!! Lol
I was just thinking that my IKEA ones are great, they also come with the plastic sticks 🙂
Arnold Palmer pops – what a good idea!
I have used 2 sets of the Walmart Popsicle makers shown for 3 years for 9 grandchildren. The handles have a built in drip catcher and straw which is helpful. Your colorful pictures are lovely. Bet the children enjoyed eating the remains of the props!!!
I really like having summer school in the mornings. I let them choose topics they want to learn more about and we do activities, projects, art, creative writing and field trips. Being less than hour from Washington,DC we have LOTS of free educational, historical, and nature events available. Thanks for your sharing!!!
Enjoy your children; they grow up so fast.
I made popsicles for years when our kids were at home and now I make them for Mr. LC and myself. Guess we are kinda like kids! I make smoothies and freeze them in popsicle molds. The smoothies are usually made with raspberries, blueberries and yogurt. Very refreshing on warm sticky days.
Thanks, Brandy! That sounds similar to the tromboncino squash I grow, which we’ve been eating as a summer squash. They also turn orange as they mature, and the skins harden like a winter squash. I will plan to save seed from these and the armenian cucumbers this year. What’s not to like about multi-use vegi’s?
My popsicle molds are similar to the ones pictured here (from Walmart). I found them on seasonal clearance at Rite-Aid for 50¢ – they seem to work just fine. That was toward the end of summer last year, but it might be worth checking.
I used the Tupperware popsicle molds for two generations and they are still going strong. I bought one set over 50 years ago when my own were toddlers and picked up another set at a garage sale–I’ve bought some great Tupperware at yard sales in the past 2-3 years. The things I bought and use from 50 years ago are still good too. I made a lot of them from grape juice as I thought it froze to a better consistency than some other juices I tried, which got very hard like regular ice. My husband and I still eat popsicles when we take a break from gardening or, in his case, playing with his (full size) cars. Very refreshing. Your peach pie popsicles are on my list to try soon too–peaches not quite ready here yet. I really enjoy your blog and thank you for sharing all the information you do.
It just picked up some popsicle molds at Walmart for 75cents! They were on clearance. We picked 12 pounds of blueberries today so I am planning on making blue berry popsicles. Thanks for the idea.
All of them look so delicious. This week I made coffee popsicles (with leftover coffee). They were half popsicles / half ice-cream (hard to say) but they were delicious 🙂
I’ve seen those at Dollar Tree also like the reader above! I just gave my popsicle molds to my grandson to keep at his house along with my snow cone maker since he is at home more than here. I used to like to make watermelon popsicles with chocolate chips (to look like watermelon seeds) for the kids when they were younger…so pretty. I’ve also seen popsicle recipes with a clear base and fruit bits suspended in the popsicle. Beautiful, like popsicle art, lol! All these recipes sound yummy!~TJ
Oh I forgot about our sno-cone maker we had back in the 60’s! The shaved ice came out of the snowman’s mouth. We probably wore it out.
I have the Tupperware popsicle makers. They are tippy, as someone mentioned so I put the whole thing inside a shoe box I lined with foil. I have 2 sets, so the extra frozen ones can sit in the box while I make another batch. The children still look for them in the summer when they visit. Lemonade is popular with mashed strawberries or blueberries. My mother always used to use kool-aid. We never got to drink kool-aid, she would only use for popsicles.
I need to try that chocolate pudding pop one.
I have a question. I have the same ones Brandy showed here but can’t get them out of the molds. How are you all getting them out of the molds? Also I was looking on ebay today at these vintage ones, almost bought them but am glad I waited as again.. how do you get these out of the molds? It looked really simple til I looked at it closer.. how would you get the stick out of the hole with the popsicle intact? Puzzling.
Anna
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Aldon-Products-Inc-Aluminum-Ice-Treat-Molds-Popsicles-Set-of-7-w-sticks/281755404126?_trksid=p2050601.c100085.m2372&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140211132617%26meid%3D33d8dc64d38c426591398aceabfcfab6%26pid%3D100085%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D201395960706%26clkid%3D7948106901191295328&_qi=RTM2067269