Ice Pop Joy!

Many of my recipes come from trial and error (mostly error at this point!), favorite websites, and the occasional cookbook. The actual recipes usually come into play when I make difficult dishes where I need to follow multiple steps.

So, when I heard about Anni Daulter's book, Ice Pop Joy - a cookbook for popsicles - I was initially skeptical. My method of 1. get juice 2. pour juice in cups 3. freeze had been working so far and I couldn't imagine what I could actually gain from an actual book on making popsicles.

I was wrong.

Daulter's book is a combination of interesting information, stunning photography, and recipes that are a mix of the familiar and unique. I can safely say that I would have never come up with most of the creative popsicle recipes that Daulter shares.

Recipes range from bright and tropical fruit-infused pops to nutrient packed veggie or tofu ones. There are a bunch of chocolate based pops for those with a sweet tooth, and even herbal tea pops useful for soothing sore throats or grumbly tummies!

In addition to the recipes, Daulter includes a lot of interesting and useful information both on the ingredients used, "pop practicalities" (including info on the utensils/tools needed), and the importance of wholesome, healthy eating. There is also a section in the back for resources, in case you can't locate any of the ingredients in your area or want to splurge on some fun pop molds. 

We eagerly flipped through Ice Pop Joy, trying to figure out which recipe to try first. I had my heart set on the "Peace Pops," unable to resist the fruit/carrot combination, and my son chose the quinoa/blueberry pop, possibly drawn in by the gorgeous purple spiral of a pop in the accompanying photo.

While we didn't have any of the nifty popsicle molds Daulter uses, the Dixie cups and wooden popsicle sticks we did use, worked just as well. To show you just how easy these pops really are, I took some pictures when we whipped up a batch of Peace Pops.

Most of our ingredients. Local carrots, yay!

Ingredients are simple: Strawberries, mango, carrots, water & coconut sugar. I was able to find all of the ingredients at our local co-op, including the coconut sugar (which I was unsure about finding).

Carrots getting all steamy & soft

The recipe (like most in the book) calls for a blender, which we don't have. However, our hand blender made quick work of pureeing the fruit, steamed carrots, water & sugar all together without issue. Of course, before we tossed the mixture in cups to freeze, we had to taste it.

Delish!

In fact, the kiddo ended up drinking multiple cups of the Peace Pop mixture as well as the quinoa/blueberry one before they even made it to the freezer. He also exclaimed "I LOVE quinoa!" 

I do have to admit to being a bit wary of the quinoa pops. Never having had grains in my popsicles before, I couldn't quite fathom how it would work, but in the end the quinoa was blended in to the point where it just added a creamy texture and was mostly undetectable.

Yum!

While the pops didn't turn out as bright and colorful as in the book (possibly because I used "blonde" coconut sugar which looks like brown sugar) they were still incredibly tasty and eons better than my (not so) tried and true "freeze premade juice" method.

There are tons of recipes for all tastes, and we're already planning which ones to make next (I'm hoping for the white chocolate/peppermint "Happiness" pop while others might have their eye on the Pistachio Tofu Pop). 

Beyond my excitement for popsicles, I'm happy to share that I have a copy of Daulter's book up for grabs. If you would like to win a copy of Ice Pop Joy, please leave a comment below, telling me what *your* favorite popsicle treat is!