What does one do to cool off during the summer. There are many ways like staying in cool places or drinking cool drinks. Taking lots of liquids is important to protect oneself from heat stroke. When my kids were much younger, I would always prepare halo-halo because I wanted to make sure the preparation is clean. Another refreshing, cooling preparation is fruit flavored ice pops. There is nothing more satisfying than preparing your very own refreshing ice pops. An ice pop (freezer pop, popsicle, ice lolly or ice block) is a water-based frozen snack that is a delight to any age group especially when one is staving off the summer heat. Ice pops are made by freezing flavored liquid like fruit juice around a stick.
Here are recipes for that home-made yet refreshing fruit flavored ice pops brought to you by the Maya Kitchen. You will need popsicle molds.
Banana Flavored Pops:
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon MAYA Cornstarch
¾ cup whole milk
½ cup cream
½ cup water
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 pieces ripe bananas
Strawberry Flavored Pops:
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons MAYA Cornstarch
1 cup whole milk
½ cup cream
1cup frozen strawberries
½ cup strawberry filling (optional)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Orange-Mango Flavored Pops:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons MAYA Cornstarch
¼ cup whole milk
½ cup cream
1 ½ cups orange juice
½ cup mango concentrated
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Prepare Banana Pops: In a sauce pan, combine sugar and cornstarch then add in milk, cream and water. Bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes. Remove from heat and cool a bit. Put the mixture in a blender, add in lemon juice and bananas and process until smooth. Pour in a popsicle mold. Insert the sticks and freeze for 6 hours.
Prepare Strawberry Pops: In a sauce pan, combine sugar and cornstarch then add in milk and cream. Bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes. Remove from heat and cool a bit. Put the mixture in a blender, add in frozen strawberries, strawberry filling and lemon juice and process until smooth. Pour in a popsicle mold. Insert the sticks and freeze for 6 hours.
Prepare Orange-Mango Pops: In a sauce pan, combine sugar and cornstarch then add in milk and cream. Bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes. Remove from heat and cool a bit. Put the mixture in a blender, add in orange juice, mango concentrate and lemon juice and process until smooth. Pour in a popsicle mold. Insert the sticks and freeze for 6 hours.
NOTE: To make a three layer popsicle, pour a little amount of each flavored mixture into popsicle mold allowing each flavors to freeze for a few minutes before adding the second and a third mixture.
Yield: more than a dozen
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