Watermelon Agua Fresca and Popsicles

I've never been a huge fan of watermelon because I think it's too hard to eat.  If it's cut up in slices, I inevitably get it all over my face, and even if it's already cut up into nice cubes, I have a hard time spitting out the seeds (and even "seedless" watermelons have those little white seeds in them!).

Enter the watermelon agua fresca:  all the yumminess of watermelon in drinkable form!  I find that I don't even need to add any water to the blended watermelon because it's diluted enough for me over ice, but you might want to if your watermelon happens to be really sweet.

Like I did with the papaya milk, I decided to try churning the drink and then freezing it in popsicle form.  I took the extra step of mixing in some chopped chocolate chips to look like (edible!) watermelon seeds, but I don't think I added enough to really get the effect I was going for so I doubled the amount below.

Watermelon Agua Fresca and Popsicles
makes 6 drinks or twenty 3 oz. popsicles

8 cups seedless watermelon flesh, cubed
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons honey, plus more for the popsicles
6 tablespoons chocolate chips, coarsely chopped (for the popsicles, optional)

Blend the watermelon, lime juice, and honey in a blender.  Strain through a fine mesh sieve; you should end up with almost 5 cups of liquid.

For the agua fresca, pour over ice, dilute with water as desired, and enjoy!

For the popsicles, add another 2 tablespoons of honey and taste.  Add more, if necessary, until it almost tastes too sweet.  Churn the watermelon juice in an ice cream machine.  When it is mostly frozen (you can stop before it reaches soft serve consistency), stir in the chopped chocolate.  Fill your popsicle molds and freeze.  I used about 1 1/2 cups of liquid to fill six of my 3 oz. popsicle molds.

Next:  Cleveland Cassata Cake (Bonus:  In a Jar!)
Previously:  Low Country Boil
Five Years Ago:  Curried Carrot Soup

Papaya Milk and Papaya Milk Popsicles

TIL that when you google "papaya milk", the second hit that comes up is, "Does ready made papaya juice made boobs bigger?"  Wut?  Is that a thing?

I don't know if it does or not, but papaya milk will definitely make you happier.  It's a popular drink from Taiwan and only consists of papaya, milk, honey (or sugar), and ice.  Somehow, that simple combination makes a super yummy, refreshing tropical drink perfect for a hot summer day.  If you've never had one, you might be surprised at the complexity of the flavors; the slight bitterness of the papaya only accentuates the sweetness of the fruit (kind of like how a little salt can also bring out sweetness in desserts).  I prefer to use honey instead of sugar since sugar doesn't always dissolve as well in the cold drink.  I wish the flesh of the papaya I had gotten was more red than yellow since traditionally papaya milk is a pinkish-peach color, but I was afraid the papaya was going to spoil if I had let it ripen any longer!

I toyed with the idea of making a popsicle version of the drink, too.  Since the drink separates upon sitting, I decided to churn it first in my ice cream machine before filling the popsicle molds.  The resulting texture was more creamy than icy, probably also helped by not adding any ice to the popsicle base.  You'll want to add a lot more honey or sugar to the popsicle base since sweetness is a lot harder to taste once something is frozen.

Papaya Milk or Papaya Milk Popsicles
makes 4 smoothies or twelve 2 oz. popsicles

2 cups of cubed papaya
2 cups milk
Honey (or sugar), to taste
Ice (for the milkshake)

If making the smoothie, blend the papaya, milk, 2 tablespoons of honey, and a cup of ice.  Add more honey and/or ice depending on your own preferences.  Drink immediately.

If making the popsicles, blend the papaya, milk, and start with 4 tablespoons of honey.  Taste, and add more honey if needed, until it is almost too sweet.  Chill and then churn in the ice cream maker until mostly frozen (you can stop before it reaches soft serve consistency).  Fill your popsicle molds and freeze until hard.  Enjoy!

Next:  Low Country Boil
Previously:  Shashuka with Polenta
Last Year:  Bubble Tea Popsicles
Four Years Ago:  Coconut Lime Sorbet

Bubble Tea Popsicles

When Ilene first posted about these boba tea ice cream bars, I totally wanted to try to make it.  But I didn't have any popsicle molds at the time, so I tried just making a milk tea ice cream and folding in syrup-soaked boba.  Unfortunately, after hardening the ice cream in the freezer, the boba ended up way too hard for the ice cream to be palatable.

Now that I do have popsicle molds, I was looking up recipes for a milk tea popsicle the other day and came across this recipe for milk tea with tapioca pearl ice pops.  I knew it was time to try again.

When I went to my closest Asian grocery store, they didn't have any of the par-cooked, vaccum-sealed black tapioca balls, only the kind that were completely dried.  I didn't really feel like reconstituting the boba from scratch, so I did the next best thing and went to the Lollicup in the food court and asked if I could buy just the boba.  They were really nice about it and sold it to me for the same price as a cup of bubble tea.

They asked if I wanted the regular-sized boba or the mini ones, and since I didn't really know if one would work better than the other, I just asked for a half cup of both.  They also offered to add some extra syrup in the cups so that the boba wouldn't stick to each other, something I would've asked them to do anyways.

The recipe has you freeze the bubble tea in two layers, presumably because the boba would float or sink in the liquid so by freezing in two layers you would get a better distribution along the whole length of the popsicle.  (Spoiler alert:  they float, at least in this particular mixture.)  Since I was filling twelve popsicle molds, I decided to fill four with all regular-sized boba, four with mini-sized boba, and four with mini on the bottom and regular on the top, kind of like a gradient.

After freezing and eating the popsicles, there was a clear winner between the two sizes.  Just like before, the regular-sized boba ended up being too hard, but the mini-boba stayed nice and chewy!  Success!

Bubble Tea Popsicles (adapted from Chow)
makes twelve 2 oz. popsicles

1 3/4 cup water
6 Chinese black tea bags (or 6 tablespoons loose leaf tea in a tea sock)
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup mini boba, cooked and soaking in syrup

Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat in a small saucepan with a tightfitting lid. Add the tea bags, stir to combine, and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let sit for 10 minutes.

Remove the tea bags or tea sock, pressing the extra liquid from the bags or sock back into the pan, and discard the tea bags. Add the condensed milk and whisk until evenly combined.

Using a slotted spoon, remove 1/3 cup of the pearls from the syrup and divide them among the pop molds. Fill the molds halfway with the milk tea base. Stir the boba around in the milk tea to make sure that there aren't any large clumps.  Freeze until the pops are almost solid, about 2 hours. Meanwhile, set the remaining pearls aside in the syrup at room temperature. Place the remaining milk tea base in the refrigerator.

After 2 hours, drain the remaining tapioca pearls and divide them among the molds. Top with the remaining milk tea base.

Stir the boba again to break up any clumps.  Insert the sticks and freeze until solid, at least 6 hours.

I wasn't as enamored with the milk tea part of the popsicle.  It was a little too sweet and icy for me.  If I had to do it again, I might just freeze some straight up milk tea (maybe with a little more half & half added to it) if I wanted a popsicle or churn some milk tea ice cream with mini boba and use that to fill the popsicle molds for a bubble tea ice cream bar.

Next:  Potatoes Boulangère
Previously:  Ken Forkish's Same Day Straight Pizza Dough
Three years ago:  Coconut Lime Sorbet

Mango Coconut Rice Pudding Pops and Ice Cream

I've had this recipe bookmarked for a while now, but it wasn't until I found some cute, cheap popsicle molds at Ikea that I was able to make them.   The original recipe made 12 large popsicles, so I adapted the recipe for 6, but even that was way too much for my tiny popsicle molds.  So I decided to add some cream and throw it into my ice cream maker to see how that would turn out.

Considering how much water there is in the mixture, the ice cream came out surprisingly well.  It freezes a little harder than I'm used to, but I was more than satisfied with the taste.  If I were to make this as an ice cream again, I'd try switching out the water for whole milk or half and half.  And I'd probably add a little sugar to the coconut milk so that the rice absorbs some sweetness, and it'd probably also help the rice stay a little softer once frozen, too.

As a popsicle, it's perfect. The creamy coconut milk and bright mango bits complement each other, and the rice gives it a nice chewiness.  My favorite part, though, is the sweetened condensed milk that kind of floats to the top of the mold (and therefore ends up at the bottom of the popsicle) giving it the perfect ending. 

Mango Coconut Rice Pudding Pops and Ice Cream (adapted from The Kitchn)
makes six 2 oz. popsicles and about a quart of ice cream

One 15-ounce can coconut milk, shaken
1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
1/2 cup short-grain or arborio rice
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon coconut extract (optional)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup fresh or frozen mango, diced
1/4 cup heavy cream (for the ice cream)

Add the contents of the can of coconut milk into a large saucepan. Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla bean and stir in. Stir in the rice, and bring the whole mixture to a simmer over medium heat.

Turn the heat down to low and cook for about 25 minutes, or until the rice is tender.  Whisk in the sweetened condensed milk, water, vanilla extract, coconut extract (if using), and salt. 

Fold the mango into the rice mixture.

Transfer the rice and mango mixture to six 2-ounce popsicle molds. Insert sticks and freeze until solid — 3 to 4 hours.  To release the pops from the molds, run the molds briefly under warm water.

Add the rest of the mixture to an ice cream machine and churn according to the manufacturer's directions.  Transfer the ice cream to an air-tight container and freeze for at least 4 hours to harden.

Next:  Passion Fruit Macarons
Previously:   Homemade Cronuts
Three years ago:  World Peace Cookies