Summer on a stick

Juli Leonard, Mct

From left, the mango lassi, strawberry kiwi, white grape, left and Southern sweet tea are some creative recipes for homemade popsicles.

Tasty homemade Popsicles in a variety of flavor combinations bring out the little kid in everyone.

By A NDREA WEIGL

Last update: July 1, 2009 - 2:18 PM

When the heat has you in a sizzle, nothing tastes better than an icy treat on a stick. And there's far more to treats than those in the freezer section of your supermarket.

Not so incidentally, frozen pops offer an opportunity to have some fun with your children in the kitchen this summer, to impress your friends with a unique dinner party dessert or palate-cleansing course, or simply to indulge your inner kid.

For ideas, we turned to Krystina Castella, author of "Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone" (Quirk Books, $15.95). She is an industrial designer by trade, and it shows with pops made in the shape of rubber ducks, Tiki masks, even skulls. She creates intriguing flavors from peanut butter and sesame raspberry to chai tea. She even has a chapter devoted to cocktail pops, such as mojitos, mai tais and margaritas.

She offers these suggestions for your own experiments:

• Bases can be juices (homemade or store-bought), fruit purées, yogurt, pudding, ice cream, sherbet, coffee or tea. The last two have to be brewed to double strength because freezing dulls the flavor.

• Molds can be as fancy as the Tovolo brand ones, which come in grooved rectangles, stars and rocket shapes. Those cost about $10 at Bed Bath & Beyond and online. Otherwise, use plastic or paper cups, ice cube trays or silicone cupcake molds.

The Tovolo molds come with sticks that snap onto the top of the molds. If you prefer wooden sticks, you will have to let the pops freeze for at least an hour before inserting the stick so it will stand up straight.

• Freeze time depends on the type of mold. Ice-cube trays take two hours at most, while a stand-up mold will take eight hours.

• Always taste the pop for sweetness before freezing. Remember, freezing dulls flavors. If it tastes fine, still add a pinch or two more sugar.

• Be careful when combining citrus flavors with yogurt. There is a chance the mixture might curdle.

• When adding an herb flavor to a pop, add the herb (rosemary, thyme, mint) to a heavy simple syrup. Bring 2 parts sugar to 1 part water (such as 1 cup sugar to 1/2 cup water) to a boil until the sugar dissolves. Add the herb at the beginning. When the syrup cools, strain the herb out and add as much syrup as necessary to the pop base.

• If you want to add chocolate chips, fruit or other edible items to the pop, don't use heavy items because they will sink to the bottom. Mini chocolate chips work better than regular-size chips.

• After removing the pops from the molds, wave them in the air for about 10 seconds to reharden the outer layer. Wrap each pop in a plastic sandwich bag and place all the pops in a larger plastic freezer bag to prevent freezer burn.