Passionate Palmer Pops | Popsicle Week 2017

It�s Wit and Vinegar�s WORLD FAMOUS POPSICLE WEEK! The hottest (yet, chilliest/chillest) week of the year! Check out the 2017 popsicle week page for a plethora of pops. Some are covered in toasted marshmallow (!), some are made with pudding, others are boozy and fruity, a few have chunks of cake in them. And this, my friends, is mine: The Passionate Palmer Pop�. 

It�s a sordid love affair, a steamy (yet frosty) summer romance between everyone�s favorite non-alcoholic drink named after a golfer, the Arnold Palmer, and the tangy sweet tropical seductress, Passionfruit. We�re talkin� sweet and sour, sticky and melty, and as refreshing as a glass of iced tea on a hot summer day. We have intrigue. We have temptation. We have PASSION. And tea and lemon. We have passionfruit Arnold Palmers (tea + lemonade combo) in one cool, frozen package. 

My sister and I were throwing out popsicle flavor ideas, and when we landed on passionfruit Arnold Palmers, and the name Passionate Palmers, we laughed hysterically. Partially because we think we�re hilarious no matter what we say, but mostly because we had an 8th grade teacher named Mrs. Palmer, who also happened to be the mom of one of my best friends growing up. Like the true middle schoolers we are at heart, it�s just funny saying passionate + a teacher�s name. RIGHT!? (Is this the part where we make the calculator say boobs*?) #growupalready. 

I had to search pretty far and wide to find any sort of passionfruit anything. Seattle has no passion. When I was about to give up, I got over my hating-tourist-season-at-the-market infliction, and tried Pike Place Market, and of course, found everything I needed: frozen passion fruit pulp and whole passionfruit fruits. The whole passionfruit is fun because it adds some fresh flavor and the cute crunchy seeds, but if you can�t find them, the frozen pulp will do. I found mine at the Mercado Latino, the Latin grocery at Pike Place. When it doubt, try a Hispanic/ Latin grocery. I used the Goya brand frozen pulp, which is 100% passion fruit pulp (no sweetener, etc). If you can�t find that, my next suggestion would be passionfruit nectar or juice (Goya also has one, or try a Hawaiian brand�look for lilikoi instead of passionfruit), but don�t add extra sweetener to the pops, as those drinks are usually pretty sweet. And if all of the above fails, and you live in a passionless pit, I think pureed mango would be pretty good here too!  

Don�t forget to visit Billy�s #popsicleweek page to enjoy fun pops all summer long!

Passionate Palmer pops (passionfruit arnold palmer popsicles) 

Makes ~10 standard sized popsicles

2 cups water 4 tea bags (basic black tea, like Lipton) 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from approx.  2 whole lemons) 2 tablespoons maple syrup 2/3 cup frozen passionfruit puree/ pulp 2 whole passionfruit

Boil water, then steep tea bags for about 10 minutes, until you have a dark, strong tea (but not like, impossible to consume dark). You can either simmer the bags in a pot with the water, or just boil, remove from heat, and steep, covered. Chill tea until cool (in refrigerator, or over an ice bath). While tea is chilling, cut open both whole passionfruit, and scoop the insides (seeds and all, they�re edible!) into the bottom of each of your popsicle molds. Freeze until solid, about 20 minutes. Add lemon juice, maple syrup, and passionfruit puree to chilled tea (Note: the frozen passionfruit comes pretty solid. To use it, I first broke it up and added it, with a splash of water, to the blender, just to get it to loosen up to a thick soft-serve, sorbet like consistency. You could also just try thawing it like a normal patient person). Whisk or stir until combined. Taste, and add more maple syrup as needed (depending on how sour/tangy versus sweet you like it). Pour mixture into popsicle molds, over frozen passionfruit. Insert sticks and freeze until solid.

*Speaking of 8th grade and boobs... my mom, sister, and I recently reminisced about the time I tried to stuff my bra (with wadded up tissues) for a middle school dance, and as my friend and I were leaving the house, my mom SO EMBARRASSINGLY, IN FRONT OF MY FRIEND, told me to take it out! I died a thousand angsty deaths. But in hindsight, I think she did me a huge favor: 
    Amanda: How'd you know she stuffed? Were they too big?
    Mom: No, they were just super lumpy and weird shaped!

Vanilla Pineapple IPA Popsicles | #POPSICLEWEEK

It�s that magical first-week-of-summer time. When everything seems possible, when we shed our winter skins and people ride bikes naked through the streets, the sun sets later and later each night, barbeques and beers on patios are plentiful and stretch past our pre-solstice bed-times, camping plans and picnic plans and beach-day plans are dreamt up and mapped out, and here in the PNW, we wear tank tops and flip flops one day, rainboots and jackets the next, constantly unprepared for the heat or the rain. It�s also the time of year when Billy of Wit & Vinegar hosts Popsicle Week!


Popsicles are one of those things that give me all the nostalgic summertime feels. Childhood memories of being sent outside into the summer heat with frozen orange juice or frozen grape juice on a stick, melting faster than you can eat it. It seems impossible, no matter what sad and awful and hateful and terrible things are happening in the world and the nation and our lives, to not smile when you�re eating a popsicle. Popsicle week came at just the right time this year�I feel like we could all benefit from a few extra, sticky-frozen-sweet smiles this month.    

This popsicle is sort of my ode to the Pacific North Best�a gift to my comrades in the upper left USA who�ve waded through a long, wet, grey, sunless winter. To my fellow Seattleites who know the few months of sunshine we get every summer make the rest of year worth it. It has a bitter hoppy finish that I associate with the northwest. IPAs of course are all over the map, but they feel so PNWonderland to me�piney and woodsy, best accompanied by a flannel shirt, mountains, and evergreen trees. And the pineapple�that�s for those of us who never want to call another place home, but still long for tropical beaches.

I�ve been toying with the idea of a vanilla pineapple IPA beertail for some time now, and with popsicle week here, I decided rather than a cocktail, this would be the perfect popsicle! All the satisfying cool relief and childlike giddiness of eating an icy pop, with the contrast of the sweet tangy pineapple, the warm roundness of vanilla, and the bitter hops that our adult palates have come to know and respect. Note that these aren�t the kind of treats that have a little something for everyone�If you�re not an IPA fan (shame on you) or you�re an actual child, these aren�t the pops for you. There's a real punch in the face IPA-ness about them. Luckily, if you head over to Wit & Vinegar, there are a lot of other options to meet your summer frozen treat needs and wishes.



Why is it impossible to get the sticks in straight!?

Vanilla Pineapple IPA Popsicles
This makes about 1.5 cups more liquid than my 10 popsicle mold could hold. I started to do the maths to cut back, and instead gave up and poured the extra liquid in a glass over ice and was grateful for that decision, instant gratification for those of us that can hardly stand to wait overnight for these pops to freeze. Note that because they contain alcohol, they don't get a really deep freeze, and that makes them melt super fast...but the slushy pop gobbled up really quick before it melted away was my fave part. 

18 oz. pineapple juice *
16 oz (1 pint / 2 cups) IPA **
1 tablespoon agave
1 teaspoon vanilla ***

Whisk ingredients together and pour into popsicle molds. Freeze until solid. Enjoy on a rainy or sunny PNW summer day.

* I used three 6 oz cans of Dole pineapple juice
**I used one from one of my neighborhood breweries� I tried to pick something a little summery and citrusy. If you can get your hands on a citra, that would be the winner
***I used vanilla bean paste, which I think has a deeper vanilla flavor plus I love the specs of vanilla bean (all those little black speckles at the tips of the pops), but regular vanilla extract and/or scraped vanilla bean will work

Monkey Lala Popsicles

IT'S POPSICLE WEEK! That one week every year when Billy rounds up all of his closest, most elite food blogger friends (just kidding, everyone's invited) and we all post a kajillion recipes for popsicles and then we all eat popsicles and then you make popsicles and then you eat popsicles. It's total magic. Also, Billy is total magic. This year, to kick off #popsicleweek, he made an animated gif of Xtina eating a popsicle and asked us if we were team dirrty Xtina or team clean Christina. I said dirty.... so then I figured I better come up with a dirty pop. 

Like...Monkey Lala Popsicles!!!!

A few years ago, I went to Honduras with Evan, Amanda, and our friend Mat. We stayed on Roatan and Utila, two paradise islands in the caribbean. We snorkeled, swam, ate nothing but baleadas, and  on Roatan, drank nothing but Monkey Lalas. Every single bar in Roatan had their own Monkey Lala recipe, but the general idea is a cold, blended drink with vanilla ice cream, coconut cream, Kahlua, Baileys, Vodka and/or rum, and a swirl of chocolate sauce. It's basically dessert, and when you're sitting in the sun looking out over the bright blue caribbean, there's nothing better. 

These popsicles are soooo creamy and coconutty. Instead of vanilla ice cream, we're using coconut milk with a little bit of vanilla. Plus coco lopez coconut cream, Kahlua, and Baileys. They're as fierce as Xtina in Lady Marmalade. But not quite as dirrty as black haired Xtina, because I was afraid adding rum and vodka would mess with the overall freezablility. But Maybe they're Xtina with platinum hair and black tips, because we have a little magic shell style chocolate swirl all up in there. 

Visit the official #popsicleweek page for tons of popsicle recipes. Billy will be updating it every day this week with more fun and cool treats. And check out the official Popsicle Week Pinterest board by Munchies. PS. Remember last year when I made these coconut lemon bar pops? And the year before when I made these creamy coffee pops?

Monkey Lala Popsicles
Makes 8-10 popsicles

1 can full-fat coconut milk
3/4 cup coconut cream (like coco lopez)
2 tablespoons Kahlua (coffee liqueur)
1 tablespoon Bailey�s (Irish cream)
1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon coconut oil

Whisk together coconut milk, coconut cream, Kahlua, Bailey�s. 

Combine chocolate and coconut oil in a small microwave bowl. Microwave for 20-30 seconds at at time and stir until melted.

Fill popsicle molds about 1/4 of the way full, drizzle in a little bit of melted chocolate, fill to about 3/4 full, drizzle in the rest of the chocolate, and fill with remaining coconut mixture. Freeze until solid. 

Coconut Lemon Bar Popsicles

It's summer! And it's popsicle week! 

The always awesome Billy is hosting popsicle week, which is basically just a big, giant internet popsicle party, wherein 37 bloggers (including yours truly!) post a bunch of really fun frozen treat recipes all week long. I'm so excited for you guys to make these coconut lemon bar pops, and to try all the other cool creations (cool� get it? like� frozen. but also like�rad. oh. you did get it?). Head over to Wit and Vinegar, where Billy's updating the popsicle page with the latest recipes as they come in. 

So, about this popsicle. Remember that one time when I didn't care about lemon bars, and then my friend Genevieve begged and begged, so I finally made them? And I threw a whole bunch of shredded coconut into the shortbread crust? And then I discovered that lemon bars are amazing and I'm silly for not caring about them? Remember that? Well, these popsicles are the frozen summer version of those lemon bars! They're so creamy and coconutty and lemony! With little bits of buttery crumbled cookie chunks! 

I asked for some popsicle flavor ideas on the ol' FB, and I heard a whole lotta coconut. And a whole lotta lemon. And a few lemon-coconut. So you people who said lemon or coconut or lemon and coconut? These are for you. And all you other people, who said things like boozy pops and Thai iced tea-sicles? You just head on over and check out all the other popsicle week posts! There's something for everyone. Except for Biscuit� she asked for a Fancy Feast popsicle, but I said no. You have to draw a line somewhere, ya know?

These are easy breezy. I used store-bought cookies and crunched 'em up, because it's summa and i'm not trying to be in front of an oven all day. I tried three different variations on the mix-ins: coconut and cookies mixed evenly in the liquid, coconut and cookies at the top end, and coconut and cookies at the bottom end. I think mixed evenly throughout works best, because you get cookie flavor in every bite, but if you want to try the other options, go for it! 

Coconut Lemon Bar Popsicles

Makes about 10 big popsicles

1 can full fat coconut milk (for full creaminess)

1 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup honey

1/3-1/2 cup desiccated coconut (depending on how textury and coconutty you like it)

1/2 cup shortbread cookie crumbles 

Whisk together coconut milk, lemon juice, and honey until smooth (or whiz up in a blender). Stir in coconut and cookie crumbles. Pour into popsicle molds, and freeze until solid. Release from molds (I like running warm water over the outside of the mold) and enjoy!