We made a decent dent in our pops collection, so last weekend I made two more varieties: minty limeade and coke float.These might be the best yet. They were much simpler than the other varieties (which were pretty simple to start with) and I have been going through these like there's no tomorrow.
Pop count yesterday: 4.
(I was going to try for none today, but now that I'm writing this... I'm not sure I'll make it.)
The minty limeade ones are my favorite. They are icy and tart and perfect. They remind me a lot of the mint syrup I make for tea and I love that stuff, so of course it makes sense that I'd love it frozen. But I've always loved Coke floats, so those are pretty awesome too. Mini Coke floats on a stick!
Minty Limeade
1/2 cup of sugar
1 skinny cucumber sliced thin
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup mint leaves
1 and 3/4 cup of water
Boil sugar, half of the cucumber slices, lime juice, mint, and water together until the sugar is fully dissolved. Strain. Add 1 tsp lime zest. Put one or two cuke slices in each pop mold. Pour in the strained syrup. Freeze for 1-2 hours and then add your stick. Continue freezing until solid.
Coke Float
Pour Coke into a bowl and let it sit out until it gets pretty flat, otherwise it will foam up when you try to pour it into your little containers. A few vigorous stirs will help release the bubbles. Put a spoonful of vanilla ice cream in the pop mold and pour Coke on top. Make as few or as many as you'd like. These tend to "grow" a bit while freezing, so don't fill your molds too full. Freeze for 1-2 hours and then add your stick. Continue freezing until solid.
While we're at it, can I rave about the mini paper cups as pop molds? I looked at all the many pop molds on Amazon and none of them get really great reviews: They're too big. The plastic breaks when they're frozen. They are hard to get out. You have to run water on the molds to get the pops out so it's hard to remove one at a time. The sticks come up when you pull on them. Etc. Etc.
Paper cups are single servings, and a nice size too. To remove them, I simply hold the cup in my hand for a second or two to warm it and push gently at the bottom of the cup. Every pop has come out easily. Plus the cups sit down nicely, so you can take a break if you need to.
(I put both of these back in the freezer after I took pictures. Pop count today: 0... so far.)