As heatwaves continue to beat down on Barcelona (poor us) ice lollies, aka popsicles, have become a favourite treat.  They are also very trendy this year!  So out came my cheap neglected IKEA moulds bought two years ago along with silicone pots and some plastic cava glasses.  Then with lolly sticks and a blender everything was set to make healthy, refreshing and delicious ice lollies!  Yeeha!  No, no jumping around.  Just slow movements here in front of my fan.  I’m not keen on air conditioning but have recently considered living in the local library or spending the night on a metro train just to relax in a fridge-like chill!  Lol.  Ah well better have another lolly.  I like to alternate:  a few bites of creamy Mocha Love popsicle with a delicious blend of coffee, cocoa and coconut milk sweetened with dates then some spicy sweet Mexican-style chilli mango paleta with optional stripes of zingy raspberry yoghurt!  Made with fresh fruit purée, fresh chilli peppers and sweetened with a little maple syrup or honey.  Which lolly to choose?  They’re easy and fast to make so when in doubt, best have both!  🙂

The experiments

You can adapt and play around with your lolly flavours and use any fruit purée.  I made some cherry and lime ones that were very tasty and refreshing.  As you see in the photo below, the chocolate on the mocha lollies can be studded with sprinkles.  And blueberries taste nice with the mango lollies (don’t put them at the bottom of the mould like I did – pour a little liquid in first).  The cherry and coconut stripes came out neatly from waiting a few hours between layers (sadly I rushed my mango and raspberry ones… oops).

Anyway, after lots of experiments involving almond milk (okay but not as creamy as coconut milk), xantham gum (not worth adding) and infusing the fruit purée (not necessary) I finally developped perfect very simple recipes for my new favourite popsicles.  And I also discovered when to insert the sticks so they don’t sink or refuse to go in.  Of course if you use the IKEA handles provided it’s simpler but maybe not as photogenic as natural wooden sticks?!

THE RECIPE

The mocha lollies are adapted from the amazing coffee coconut milk popsicles on the Feeding your beauty blog.  I’ve recently discovered the joys of mocha (coffee and chocolate, drool…) so added some cocoa powder then balanced it out by increasing the coffee and adding maple syrup.  It also seemed best to sieve the liquid before pouring into the moulds.

The mango lollies are based on Mexican paletas usually made with sugar and chile powder.  I thought I’d use fresh chilli peppers and a little maple syrup instead, which totally works to give you that spicy sweetness.  The raspberry layers are optional and added in because I love striped lollies – it is yummy to have two flavours and they’re lovely together but next time I’d have more mango and thinner raspberry stripes.

The quantities are pretty flexible as it depends on how sweet your tooth and fruit are or your personal taste for coffee and cocoa.

Equipment

• Blender (I use Blend Active which is cheap, easy to clean and you can use the plastic bottle for blending, storage and drinking!)
• Plastic moulds, pots, cups or cones.
• Wooden lolly sticks, found in craft shops

Warning:  maybe there isn’t enough sugar in these to use a Zoku lolly maker.  Mine got stuck in there when I tried but will try again soon.  So far I’ve been better off using cheapo plastic moulds!! 🙂

Mocha Love ice lollies – for about 6-8 lollies

• 6 large mejdool dates (120g/half cup)
• 1 and a half teaspoons ground instant coffee diluted in 1 and a half teaspoons boiling water
• 400ml can of cold coconut milk
• 1 tsp pure unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (or honey)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 80 – 100g dark chocolate (optional)

Once you unmould place on greaseproof paper on a tray to freeze well before drizzling or covering in chocolate.  Then briefly freeze again before storing in tupperware.

Mexican-style chilli mango paletas with raspberry yoghurt stripes – for about 6-8 lollies (or about 4 lollies if making just mango ones)

• 2 small-medium mangoes, peeled and chopped (about 300g/1 and 1/2 cups)
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
• juice of 1 lime (freshly-squeezed), 30g
• half to one chilli pepper, split and deseeded then chopped finely, to taste (quantity depends on how hot your chillis are!)
• pinch of salt

Optional raspberry layer (or if used alone makes about 3 lollies):

• 115g/1 cup fresh or defrosted frozen raspberries
• juice of 1/2 lime (freshly-squeezed), 15g
• 3 tablespoons natural unsweetened yoghurt (or unsweetened Greek-style yoghurt) – for a vegan version use coconut milk or vegan yoghurt
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey (you might want more for a sweeter lolly)

For the raspberry layer put everything in a blender and whizz till smooth.  Put equal tablespoons or teaspoons in each mould and allow to freeze about an hour or more before adding the other different layer.  Repeat.  Place the mixture carefully so you don’t have drips on the sides (wipe clean with a paper towel if necessary).  Otherwise go for a messier swirl effect.

Or make simple chilli mango paletas!

Eating and storing

Once your lollies have been unmoulded let them freeze solid again on a tray covered in baking paper then store in airtight tupperware between layers of greaseproof paper.  It’s best to eat them within 2 weeks when they’re at their best.

Too hot for research!

Apologies, I wanted to go into the history of ice lollies especially since they were first discovered by an 11-year-old boy!   But it’s too hot.  I’m wilting and just need to lay back and have another ice lolly!  Lol.  But will just say that all spellings of ‘chile’ (the original Latin American word) are acceptable!  Hurray!  It’s usually ‘chilli’ in the UK and ‘chili’ in the US (not sure about other countries and sorry but it’s sooo hot… got to lie back on the sofa now).

Will just toddle off first and get me a couple of ice lollies!  🙂  One of each.  Which would you prefer?  The creamy mocha ice lolly, chilli mango and raspberry or just a chilli mango paleta?

All of them?!

Bye for now sweeties!  Wishing you a cool and relaxing week with some baking, no-baking and yummy eating! 🙂  Lili x

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