6 Must-Know Tips for Making Your Own Ice Pops
Photograph by Adam Slama
Yahoo Food’s Cookbook of the Week is Ice Pops! 50 Delicious, Fresh and Fabulous Icy Treats by Cesar and Nadia Roden.
The Procedure
Essential tips
1. Fill the molds
When you pour the mixture into the ice pop molds, leave about ¼ inch a the top to let the mixture expand as it freezes.
2. Insert the sticks
Some molds have a metal tray through which you can insert the sticks. If so, make sure the sticks go in straight, otherwise you’ll have a really hard time taking the metal tray off when you are ready to unmold the ice pops. We prefer to use this method: leave the molds uncovered in the freezer for about 1 hour (but be careful not to forget them—we’ve done it many times!), then insert the sticks and they will remain upright. Alternatively, use the foil trick.
3. Freeze
Turn your freezer to the coldest setting. The faster the ice pop freezes, the smaller the ice crystals will be, which means it will be creamier. Put your molds at the back of the freezer where it’s coldest. Ice pops take 4 to 8 hours to freeze, depending on the ingredients you use. The higher the water-to-sugar ratio the faster your ice pop will freeze. Alcohol will slow the process and too much will result in a slushy ice pop. There are some expensive instant ice pop makers that will freeze an ice pop in just 15 minutes, so that’s an option if you’re really impatient.
4. Unmold
Carefully immerse the molds in hot water (we use the kitchen sink) for about 10 to 20 seconds, making sure to dip them right up to just below the top rim, then pull hard on the sticks to yank them out. If they don’t come out, they might need a second immersion. If you are using individual molds, you can run hot water over the outside of the mold and then pull hard on the sticks.
5. Eat or store
Enjoy your ice pops immediately or store them in sealable freezer bags or waxed paper bags in the freezer. Make sure they are airtight to prevent ice crystals from forming inside and a taste of “freezer burn.” You can also keep them frozen in their molds until you are ready to eat them, but try not to leave them for too long because they taste much better within a week of making.
6. Transport
Use insulated freezer bags or a Styrofoam container or ice chest, if you ever need to transport ice pops. The more ice pops you transport together, the longer they will stay frozen. For a very long trip you may want to purchase a block of dried ice, which will keep them frozen for many hours.
Reprinted with permission from Ice Pops! 50 Delicious, Fresh and Fabulous Icy Treats by Cesar and Nadia Roden (Sterling Epicure).
Now that you’re an ice pop pro, here are some recipes:
