As most of you know, I live in Brisbane, Australia – it gets very hot & humid in summer here, and whilst on the whole, the worst of the heat is in February/March, with the onset of school holidays, it’s certainly the season for ice blocks/ ice creams/ popsicles! All you need to start making them is a set or 2 of the moulds (can get really cheap ones at the supermarket or discount shops) and an imagination. If you want to make quite a few at a time you can buy paddle pop sticks to use once you’ve popped out the ice block but not eaten it off the plastic stick yet.
Here are some simple ideas for some summer holiday fun:
Minimal Effort
Puree some fruit (eg mango, pineapple, watermelon, strawberry etc). You can mix flavours.
Pour into the moulds. Freeze. Remove. Eat. EASY, healthy.
Might look like this (mango/stawberry)
Marginal Effort
Puree fruit and blend together with something creamy eg coconut cream, cream, yoghurt. You can even stir in a few fruit chunks before putting into the moulds if you want to.
Pour into moulds. Freeze. Remove. Eat.
OR buy ice blocks/paddle pops (I’ve used the Home Ice Cream ones as they are cheap and gluten free, I know, not sugar/dairy free though) and dip into homemade ice magic (see below) and sprinkle with nuts/seeds/muesli/coconut etc. This one looks like this:
Tiny bit more effort
Dip one of the above ice blocks into yoghurt or milk kefir, sprinkle with nuts/coconut/100s&1000s (did I say that?) etc Would look like this:
More effort (but totally worth it): Cakey & Cream Ice Cream (gluten, grain AND dairy free, it’s true!)
I like the concept of Cookies & Cream Ice Cream but given I don’t eat gluten it’s you have to make your own. I had some of my Amazing Chocolate Cake left over after taking some to a book signing recently, so I added that to coconut ice cream and voila! Cakey & Cream Ice Cream with a gluten/grain/dairy free twist.
Make your own coconut ice cream. My recipe is HERE. Use the basic recipe.
When you churn the ice cream, about 5 mins from the end stir in your slice of cake all crumbled up. I used this amazing chocolate cake recipe.
Then pour into moulds and freeze.
Alternatively serve in a bowl with the ice magic poured on top and sprinkled with your topping of choice!
To make your homemade ice magic:
Stir in a saucepan over a medium heat:
- 3/4 cup cacao powder
- 3/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup maple syrup (or to taste)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
- 1/3 cup cacao butter (if you have it – it will make for a harder, thicker sauce but don’t buy especially)
When you take your ice blocks out of the moulds, dip the tip in the ice magic then sprinkle with either more cake crumbs, nuts/coconut/seeds/muesli/buckwheat kernals/fruit etc
The chocolate sauce/ice magic will keep for ages either in the fridge or in the pantry. If in the fridge it will need warming up again before use to make it runny.
Have fun!! Feel free to post pictures on my Facebook page or tag me @whatannabelcooks on Instagram with your creations.
I have to be the taste tester… such a hard gig!
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