Hot Flavored Ice Pops

I have always been making ice pops with the extra when I make smoothie daily and I have always wanted to make bomb flavor ice pops instead of the familiar smoothie flavors. Recently, Instructables' frozen treat contest motivated me to do more research and dig into some blog postings and books. I'll show and tell what I made below. 

I love to eat insanely hot and spicy food. A hot flavored ice pop is undoubtedly the first I tried. The original recipe is from "People's Pops" by Nathalie Jordi, David Carrell, and Joel Horowitz, on page 60. It used peach and softened the fruit in the oven. I didn't have peach in my fridge but a very good papaya, so that's what I used. The original recipe is for making 10 pops.

I made 2 pops in this flavor. 

4.4 oz  papaya fresh

2 fl oz simple syrup

¼ of a jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced

1/5 fl oz (6 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice

 

To make 2 fl oz simple syrup:

Combine 1/6 cup organic cane sugar with 1/6 cup water in a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is transparent.

Add in the jalapeno and let the mixture simmer for 5-10 minutes (cover the pan if you can so the simple syrup doesn’t evaporate too much and reduce the amount of liquid remaining.)  Turn off the heat and let rest while the pepper steeps. Let cool.

Puree the papaya in a blender.

Strain the jalapeno out of the simple syrup and discard the jalapeno.

Transfer the papaya puree in a pitcher with a pouring spout and add the jalapeno simple syrup and the lemon juice in a few times and taste between additions. Stir the mixture until well incorporated. Dip a spoon in, the mixture should taste sweet, accented by a bite from the jalapeno.

Pour the mixture into your ice pop molds, leaving a little bit of room at the top for the mixture to expand.

Insert sticks and freeze until solid, 4 to 5 hours (set your freezer to the coldest setting).

Unmold the ice pop by running a stream of warm water on the outside of the mold (make sure the ice pop inside doesn’t get wet) for several seconds and remove the ice pop.

Enjoy your ice pop at once or transfer to plastic zip bags for storage.

(My child can’t stand heat. This ice pop is just for me. Haha)

Original recipe is from Eatsy: http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2013/eatsy-chili-lime-watermelon-popsicles/

To make 2 (10) pops:

1 (5) cups diced watermelon, seeds removed

Juice of 2/5 (2)   limes

 2/5 (2) tablespoons agave syrup

1/10 (1/2) teaspoon chipotle chili powder

1/10 (1/2) teaspoon sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a blender

Puree

Pour the mixture in ice pop mold and place it in freezer (set at coldest setting)

Insert sticks at once if you use the mold that has the cap and stick molded together, insert sticks one hour later if you are using the extra wooden sticks so the sticks don’t fall to the bottom of the mold

Freeze for at least 4 hour

If you have a pop maker that can freeze the mixture in minutes, use it. The shorter it takes for the mixture to freeze, the better. It doesn’t separate into layers that way.

The original recipe of this pop is from Eatsy again:  http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2011/how-to-make-horchata-pops/

 

To make 2 (6) pops:

 

2/3 (2) cups long grain white rice
2/3 (2) cups of water for soaking rice plus 1 (3) tablespoons water for making simple syrup
15 g (1/4 cup) sugar
1 1/3 tbsp. (1/4 cup) Greek yogurt
1/6 (1/2) teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cheesecloth or fine strainer (what I used)
Ice pop molds

Combine the rice and water in a bowl. Let it sit overnight.

The next day, blend the rice and water thoroughly in a blender. Strain the rice water through cheesecloth placed inside a fine colander or sieve/strainer. Use a spoon to coax the liquid through the mesh.

While the liquid is draining, make simple syrup. Combine the sugar with the remaining water.  Dissolve the sugar over medium heat in a small saucepan until it is clear.  

Once the rice water has drained, combine it with the simple syrup, ground cinnamon and Greek yogurt. You’ll want to blend this thoroughly, so that everything emulsifies nicely and the cinnamon and yogurt don’t separate while freezing.  An electric mixer or immersion blender is quite helpful here, but a fork and some elbow grease will get the job done. I guess my elbow grease wasn’t enough. Clearly the mixture separated while freezing. Oh well.

Pour the horchata mixture into your ice pop molds.

Freeze for about six hours and enjoy.

 

Original recipe in People’s Pop on page 99 uses concord grapes which are not in season yet. I used blueberry instead.

To make 2 (10) pops:

2 (10) cups blueberry (concord grapes)
1 (5) fl oz simple syrup
1/5 (1) fl oz freshly squeezed lemon juice (1 fl oz=30 ml)

Puree the fruit

Mix in the simple syrup and lemon juice

Strain the mixture (Push hard use a spoon or let it sit to let time do the job for you while you go do something else)

Pour strained juice into ice pop mold

Insert sticks and freeze until solid.

I was so tempted by the three strips roasted plum ice pops from People's Pops to replicate it. My wish ended in broken bubbles because I realize I can only make  two strips pop with the ice pop mold and stick I have, the plums I can find are red and black ones, no yellow or green ones to make ice pops the color of which pops. So I made two strips ice pop with Rainer cherry and roasted red plum. To make 10 pops:
½ lb Rainier cherry, washed, stem and pit removed
½ cup simple syrup
12 oz red plum, washed, cut in half
½ cup simple syrup

To make 1 cup simple syrup: Combine 2/3 cup organic cane sugar with 2/3 cup water in a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is transparent.

Puree the Rainier cherry and mix with ½ cup simple syrup

Pour the mixture into ice pop mold, divided into 10. Make sure there is room for the mixture to expand before reaching the tip of the stick.

Place the ice mold in freezer and freeze for at least 1 hour

To prepare the roasted red plum: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the plum cut side down on a glass baking ware, then roast until the skins and flesh have significantly softened, 20 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Once the plums are cool, discard the pits and puree the plums in a blender.

Transfer the plum puree in a pouring pitcher and add in the remaining simple syrup. Stir the mixture until well incorporated.

Pour the mixture into the ice pop mold with frozen cherry at the bottom.

Insert sticks and freeze until solid, 4-5 hours.

Unmold and enjoy at once or transfer to plastic zip bags for storage.


Unfortunately, for the ice pop mold and sticks I have from dollar tree, I have to consume the ice pops in order to reuse the sticks (molded to a cap). If you want to make ice pops for a party, what you really need is the extra wooden ice pop sticks which can only be found online from places like Amazon.

(The white and purple striped pop was made of extra horchata mixture and blueberry mixture.)

Of course I first tried the hot flavored ice pops. I liked them, especially the chili lime watermelon. I’m thinking of even spice up the heat a little later.

My child chose to first try the horchata pop. She liked it a lot. I was not crazy about it because the sandy texture of rice starch. I noticed we eat ice pop differently. She sucks on it and I bite and chew. Maybe that makes a difference.

I found it’s not hard to make ice pops. Anyone who has some experience in kitchen won’t end up with total failure. But it’s hard to make perfect ice pops. First, fruits that are at peak flavors are hard to obtain. Second the flavors of sugar, acidity, chili and other spices and herbs used have to be at perfect proportion. You are warned if you are serious about making them. Good luck if you are made only more determined by the warning.

Please vote this Instructables for Frozen Treat contest and Weekend Projects contest if you like it. Thank you..