Sunday, June 24, 2012

Summer Ice Pops: Pineapple Ginger Coconut




Okay, so when a grocery store had a sale on pineapples, what do you do?  If you're like me, you'd run to the store and bought more than one pineapple for sure.  Fred Meyer had $1/pineapple this week so I had to have it; in my household, pineapple is a favorite fruit.  I bought one for eating fresh and another one for making pineapple pops.  I have ready a ginger simple syrup in my fridge, something that now I know it's so easy to make, I must have some ready in the fridge for making something sweet.

ginger simple syrup-1


fresh pineapple-1


pineapple ginger coconut pops-1


pineapple ginger coconut pops-1-3


My flavor combo of this week for the pops is pineapple, ginger, and coconut.  The recipe is a very easy one:  I put one whole pineapple in the blender, then I combined it with ginger simple syrup to make it slightly sweeter than normal.  The sugar will mellow when the pops are stored in the freezer, so you should make your pops always a tad too sweet.  The recipe for the simple syrup here will be most likely used all because it's thicker than a regular simple syrup.  Since I have not bought any popsicle molds, I had to resort using a 3-ounce paper cups again (like I did with this banana blueberry gelato).  I really don't mind using the paper cups though I'm putting popsicle mold in my wish list nevertheless.  I see myself making pops every summer now.

I like to steep the ginger in my syrup for a day or two so the ginger really sings in the pops :)  There's a bit of heat from the ginger that's refreshing yet it's still subtle enough, and with toasted shredded, sweetened coconut in the pops, these add texture and bring more of that tropical island kick to the pops.

frozen pineapple ginger coconut pops-1


frozen summer pops-1-2


strawberry pineapple pops-1-3


And along with these pops, I made strawberry pops that has been mixed with mint simple syrup which was also fabulous.  On some cups I put these two together and they came out very pretty and vibrant.  The recipe for the strawberry pops will be in the next post, don't you worry.  Now, who don't want to have these all summer long?!

Pineapple Ginger Coconut Ice Pops


Makes about 10 3-fluid ounce pops



Ginger Simple Syrup:

1/2 cup water

1 cup sugar

5-6 thin slices, peeled, fresh ginger

Combine water, sugar, and sliced ginger pieces in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Heat until sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally.  Keep syrup in a refrigerator after it cools down.  It is best to make this one or two days ahead because the flavor will be more pronounced.



Pineapple mixture:

1 medium size pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces



About 1 cup toasted, shredded sweetened coconut



Put pineapple pieces in a blender and puree until smooth.  Add syrup to pureed pineapple, 1/2 cup at a time; make sure the mixture is very sweet.  Pour pineapple mixture into cups or ice pop molds, add stick when partly frozen if using paper cups.  Freeze until solid.

For a variation:  add toasted coconut in the cup/mold and after the cup/mold is filled.

No comments:

Post a Comment