Celebrate July 4th with Homemade Popsicles

If you're expecting a sunny 4th of July, you'll need some cool treats to help you celebrate until the evening's fireworks.  Carla Emery shares her recipes for easy and delicious homemade popsicles.

These are cheap, easy, and even more fun for children than going to the store. Children like strong, sweet juices like grape and cranberry for popsicles—but when kids are hot, anything will do. My little ones enjoy goat’s milk popsicles. Popsicle making is a nice way to use leftover juices from canned fruit, too.

OF HANDLES AND MOLDS

You can use wooden sticks for handles and sturdy small bowls or cans for containers—work up a collection. Or buy popsicle molds; Tupperware and Back to Basics carry them. If you have a big family or lots of small friends, I recommend getting at least 2 molds so you can have one freezing while they are consuming the other. You can even make parfait popsicles by freezing a layer of one color and then a layer of another color. My plastic holders soon got lost or fell apart, but then we substituted sticks in a bowl or can and were fine. Fill the molds not quite full, insert your holder, and freeze.

UNMOLDING

Don’t let the gremlins pull the holders until you’re sure the center of the popsicle is solidly frozen and you have loosened the sides by running hot water over the back of the mold. Otherwise they might pull out the holder prematurely, leaving a hole that it won’t freeze back into. You don’t have to unmold all the popsicles at once. Just loosen as many as you need. Refill the emptied units and return to the freezer.

BASIC FRUIT POPSICLES

Puree 1 cup any kind of fruit or a mixture of fruit and mix with 1 cup water. Pour into your ice cube tray. When they are starting to freeze, add a wooden stick or toothpick to each section. 

PUDDING POPSICLES

Susan Staley was in Germany when she sent me this recipe. She said, “If your children love the Fudgsicle-type popsicle, you can easily make them. Just make up a batch of pudding and freeze it in your popsicle molds. They’re delicious and you can make different kinds beside chocolate. Butterscotch is very good. In fact, any flavor of pudding your children love hot, they’re bound to like cold in hot summer weather.”

ANY FRUIT ICE

You could juice pomegranates or barberries or red currants, or cook and strain quinces, or grate pineapple, or boil and pulp apples or rhubarb—whatever you have. Sweeten to taste, add lemon juice if the flavor needs it, and freeze.

GINGER ALE JUICE

Combine ¾ cup sugar and 2 cups water. Heat and boil 5 minutes. Cool. Add 1 cup orange juice, ½ cup lemon juice, and 2 bottles ginger ale. Freeze.

Cool Down with Homemade Popsicles

These are cheap, easy, and even more fun for children than going to the store. Children like strong, sweet juices like grape and cranberry for popsicles—but when kids are hot, anything will do. My little ones enjoy goat’s milk popsicles. Popsicle making is a nice way to use leftover juices from canned fruit, too.

OF HANDLES AND MOLDS

You can use wooden sticks for handles and sturdy small bowls or cans for containers—work up a collection. Or buy popsicle molds; Tupperware and Back to Basics carry them. If you have a big family or lots of small friends, I recommend getting at least 2 molds so you can have one freezing while they are consuming the other. You can even make parfait popsicles by freezing a layer of one color and then a layer of another color. My plastic holders soon got lost or fell apart, but then we substituted sticks in a bowl or can and were fine. Fill the molds not quite full, insert your holder, and freeze.

UNMOLDING

Don’t let the gremlins pull the holders until you’re sure the center of the popsicle is solidly frozen and you have loosened the sides by running hot water over the back of the mold. Otherwise they might pull out the holder prematurely, leaving a hole that it won’t freeze back into. You don’t have to unmold all the popsicles at once. Just loosen as many as you need. Refill the emptied units and return to the freezer.

BASIC FRUIT POPSICLES

Puree 1 cup any kind of fruit or a mixture of fruit and mix with 1 cup water. Pour into your ice cube tray. When they are starting to freeze, add a wooden stick or toothpick to each section. 

PUDDING POPSICLES

Susan Staley was in Germany when she sent me this recipe. She said, “If your children love the Fudgsicle-type popsicle, you can easily make them. Just make up a batch of pudding and freeze it in your popsicle molds. They’re delicious and you can make different kinds beside chocolate. Butterscotch is very good. In fact, any flavor of pudding your children love hot, they’re bound to like cold in hot summer weather.”

ANY FRUIT ICE

You could juice pomegranates or barberries or red currants, or cook and strain quinces, or grate pineapple, or boil and pulp apples or rhubarb—whatever you have. Sweeten to taste, add lemon juice if the flavor needs it, and freeze.

GINGER ALE JUICE

Combine ¾ cup sugar and 2 cups water. Heat and boil 5 minutes. Cool. Add 1 cup orange juice, ½ cup lemon juice, and 2 bottles ginger ale. Freeze.

[Excerpted from the “Sugaring and Fruit Preservation” section in Chapter 7: Food Preservation. Additional recipes include: Root Beer Ice, Strawberry or Raspberry Ice, Frozen Fruits. Illustration copyright 1994 by Cindy Davis.]

Hot Fudge Sauce

To go with my last post on homemade vanilla ice cream...

It's hard to beat an ice cream sundae on a hot, summer day. If you love to indulge in ice cream smothered in chocolate, nuts, whipped cream, coconut, fruit or candy, this hot fudge sauce will make your sundae even more delicious and satisfy your chocolate craving. I recommend using vanilla, chocolate, or coffee ice cream with this sauce only because they are my favorite ice cream flavors!

HOT FUDGE SAUCE

Mix 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, 2 tablespoons of cocoa, 2 tablespoons of butter, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and cook over medium heat in a heavy pan until thick. Stir constantly (it will stick). When cool, store in a jar in a cool place. To reheat, place jar in hot water until it is heated. If you want it thicker, add just a bit more cornstarch. 

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

To celebrate the upcoming warm weather, I am anxious to make homemade vanilla ice cream so that I can put together ice cream sandwiches. Homemade vanilla ice cream is much better than store bought and it is quite fun to make. This would be a great recipe to make with a child because it is fun to shake the bag or turn the handle. If you are using an ice cream machine, it is even fun to watch the creamy mixture transform into a solid mass. Feel free to add fruit, chocolate chips, or nuts to this vanilla base once it has turned solid but not frozen.

VANILLA ICE CREAM

Mix 1 quart light cream, 1-1/2 tablespoons of vanilla, and 3/4 cup of sugar. First put the cream mixture into the freezer can, set the can in the freezer, adjust the top, and fill in around the can with ice and rock salt in layers. Use 3 parts of ice to 1 part of rock salt. Then turn the handle of the crank, slowly at first, then faster as it begins to freeze. This makes for a smoother ice cream. When you feel that it is becoming harder to turn, you can open it up and see if it is done. You can eat it at this point for a soft-serve ice cream or freeze it until it is solid for a harder ice cream.

ICE CREAM SANDWICHES

Place frozen ice cream between two pieces of devil's food cake or any two cookies to create a sandwich. Make your own paper covering or eat immediately. Enjoy!