Strawberries are in season and, in New York, popsicles are in fashion. The weekend's incessant heat left me with no choice but to conform to the growing trend. Drawing inspiration from people's pops' recipe for rhubarb ice-pops (published in the May 9th edition of New York Magazine), I created my own nonconventional flavor showcasing the season's bounty- juicy strawberries and fresh basil. The refreshing recipe is below-
Strawberry Basil Popsicles (yield, approx. 5-6 large popsicles)
Ingredients:
16 oz strawberries
1 tbsp fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup water (plus more to cover strawberries)
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tsp almond milk
Preparation:
1. Put water, sugar and basil in small pan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Once sugar dissolves, set aside to cool and remove basil leaves (what is left is a basil infused simple syrup).
2. Wash and quarter strawberries. Place in medium sized pan and cover with about 1 inch of water. Cover pan and leave over medium heat for 20 min. Strain and reserve juice.
3. Combine 1 1/2 cup juice with 3 tbsp + 1 tsp simple syrup and almond milk.
4. Pour mixture into readied popsicle molds and freeze.
Bright, ripe strawberries are plentiful this time of year
Shortly after taking this basil from my outdoor "garden" (i.e. balcony)- the heat waged war on my other herbs and nearly wiped me out
The strawberries after about 20 minutes over medium heat
Strawberry juice separated from the mushy strawberry remains- if you like your popsicles with chunky fruit (I don't), you can add them to the mix before pouring into the molds
Filling the popsicle molds with the final mixture
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