Savoring the last days of Summer with berry popsicles in the country

We have been enjoying an extended stay in the country.  A special time spent mainly cooking at home, exploring outdoors, and dunking in the pool.  We have been in the rhythm of checking the garden each morning and harvesting what's there, with a promise to use at least one garden item in each meal.  We went through waves of vegetables so fresh we never tired of them: snap peas, green beans, cucumbers, eggplant and tomatoes to name a few.  The perimeter of of the garden has berry bushes planted last year that provide berries all summer long.  First with black raspberries, then blueberries, then red and yellow raspberries - the latter being the sweetest of the lot.

We get a generous handful of new berries each day, and it seems impossible to think of wasting a single one.  My little one who loved blueberries as a baby, has now decided he's no longer interested in berries, with the exception of strawberries, which are a bit on again off again.  I figured a popsicle might change his perspective?  I started with mixed berry popsicles of local strawberries plus our blueberries and raspberries.  They were so fresh and divine, but apparently not acceptable to him.  He requested purple popsicles.  I moved on to blackberry lime popsicles, a deep purple in color, that we made together (he operated the blender proudly), and apparently hit the spot after some coaxing.  Later this week, having discovered a recipe for fudgesicles in this month's edition of Everyday Food, we made the creamy classic together.  There was no encouragement needed to devour those.

Homemade berry popsicles (will yield ~10 popsicles depending on size of moulds)

Mixed berry popsicles

5 cups mixed berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries or whatever you prefer)
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar (adjust to taste or sweetness of berries)
Juice of one lemon

Blackberry lime popsicles

5 cups blackberries
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar (adjust to taste or sweetness of berries)
Juice of one lime

Combine ingredients in blender until berries are processed into fine pieces.  Taste and adjust sweetness and acidity to taste (note that mixture will taste less sweet when frozen).  Strain through a fine-mesh strainer to remove seeds and any remaining pieces of skin.  Pour into moulds and freeze for at least six hours.  To unmould, run moulds briefly under hot water until popsicles release.

The best of the berry: strawberry frozen yogurt

I promise to get off frozen desserts soon, but I’m having so much fun experimenting with all of the fresh fruit that’s in the market now, I have to slip one more recipe in.

I recently gave in and purchased David Lebovitz’s Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments cookbook. I usually limit the cookbooks I buy on a single topic because they don’t get enough play, but this one is going to be an exception: there are so many wonderful and refreshing sounding desserts in it that I am sure it will quickly become a regular in the rotation.

Strawberries are everywhere right now. We brought home a few pints of beautiful fresh picked ones from Long Island last weekend. Wanting to use them all up while they were at their freshest, I flipped through the Perfect Scoop for ideas. There were several great-sounding recipes: strawberry frozen yogurt, strawberry-sour ice cream, and strawberry granita, to name a few. I started with the frozen yogurt, and it was such a hit I went on to make the strawberry-sour ice cream the next day!

The frozen yogurt is particularly great because it only requires five ingredients (one of which is optional) and is made without cooking. No pots and pans to clean up and no custard to cook. The color of the frozen yogurt is a gorgeous hot pink, and the taste? Amazing, deep, fresh strawberry flavor that will make you swear off store-bought frozen yogurt forever.


Strawberry frozen yogurt (from the Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments by David Lebovitz)
(makes about 1 quart)

1 pound fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vodka or kirsch (optional)
1 cup plain whole milk yogurt
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Slice the strawberries into small pieces. Toss in a bowl with the sugar and vodka or kirsch, if using, stirring until the sugar begins to dissolve. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour, stirring every so often.

Puree the strawberries and their liquid with the yogurt and lemon juice in a blender or food processor until smooth. If you wish, press the mixture through a mesh strainer to remove any seeds.

Refrigerate for 1 hour then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.