Is it weird that I am standing in my kitchen having one of these berry + thyme ice pops and my kiddos aren’t invited??

I will eventually give them one, since I did indeed make these for them.. but right now, it’s all about me!

Me and my tasty ice cold pop!!

I haven’t always been the biggest ice pop consumer. Before kids, I was always a cake/brownie/cookie kinda girl. But when you have kids, ice pops is where it is at. For starters, you can fill them with almost anything and call it dessert (trust me – beets, carrots, spinach are all okay if blended and frozen). You can also make these with no, natural sugar or very little sugar. And let’s face it, in the summer months ice pops aren’t just for dessert – they can be eaten for any meal or snack and you can feel completely okay with it. In my mind, they are just like frozen smoothies and Ellie is now used to hitting up our freezer by 9am for a ‘POPPPPP’ snack!

You gotta do what you gotta do, little lady!

So when Zoku asked if I wanted to test out their Space Pop Molds, I was beyond excited! First of all, I heart all Zoku products! It is like they took everything cute and fun in life and made them into pop and ice cream products. What is not to love about instant ice cream makers, cute fish ice pop molds (which are a perfect size for babies and toddler) and their slushy maker. Their products rock my life!

I was also excited to have my very own pop molds so I can stop buying those pre-packed pops at the grocery store. Not only are those packaged pops expensive, they are also full of sugar and lacking in nutrients.

When you have your own pop molds, you can fill them with anything you want and feel good about handing them over to your little ones.

Plllluuuuuuuusss – I am the biggest astronomy nerd! BIG time nerd alert going on! Like as in, I can talk your ear off about dark matter, the expansion of the universe and far off planets, if you give me a chance. Hubby and I both took astronomy and physics in collage and we still argue over who got a better grade (it was me, by the way). And if that sounds all smarty pants of us, let me preface that last sentence with the fact that we both went to art school, so our final exam may have been to turn in an art piece with astronomy as the subject matter:)

So having space pop molds in my life was a dream come true.

The hard things was deciding what to put into these amazingly cute molds! You guys, there are so many amazing pop recipes out there. I picked this book up at my library and was practically licking the pages. I also started a pinterest page decided to Kid PoPs, well there might also be some recipes just for you (ppsssst, they contain alcohol).

For this recipe, I went for a simple and classic berry pop – made with fresh raspberries, blueberries and blackberries with a splash of thyme infused apple juice to sweeten the deal. But that isn’t all, I needed something creamy so I swirled in some heavy cream (you can totally use coconut milk as well) to push this pops into a world all to themselves! <———oh, I just had to!

While I went crazy and layered my berry filling, you can mix it altogether and have these pops in your freezer in less then 5 minutes.

And because Zoku wants to make your summer/astronomy/kiddos dreams come true, they are giving away a Space Pop Molds to one lucky winner!!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*** Open to US residents ONLY ***

Congratulations to Amy C. for winning the Zoku Space Mold Pops!!!


Supernova Berry + Thyme Ice Pops

1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup blackberries
1 cup apple juice
3 sprigs thyme
1/3 cup heavy cream*

Instructions
For layered look
1- In a small saucepan, heat the apple juice and thyme over medium heat until it reaches a boil. Turn heat to low and let gently simmer for 5 minutes. Let cool slightly. Discard thyme sprigs.
2- Meanwhile, puree the raspberries in a blender or food processor until super smooth. Place puree into a small bowl.
3- Puree the blackberries in a blender or food processor until super smooth. Place puree into a small bowl.
4- Puree the blueberries in a blender or food processor until super smooth. If you have any big chunks of blueberry skin, you may want to run this puree through a fine mesh colander. Place puree into a small bowl. This puree will be thick and a little clumpy, that is okay.
5- Add 1/3 cup apple juice into each of the puree bowls and gently stir until completely incorporated.
6- Layer the raspberry puree into the pop molds until they are 1/3 of the way full. Place the molds into the freezer for 20-30 minutes or until just frozen.
7- Gently, mix the cream into the blueberry mixture. You do not want to over mix this. Pour the puree into the pop molds until they are 2/3 of the way full. Place the molds into the freezer for 20-30 minutes or until just frozen.
8- Layer the blackberry puree into the pop molds until they are all the way full. Place the molds into the freezer for 4-5 hours or completely frozen.

Give it to me NOW
1- In a small saucepan, heat the apple juice and thyme over medium heat until it reaches a boil. Turn heat to low and let gently simmer for 5 minutes. Let cool slightly. Discard thyme sprigs.
2- Puree the raspberries, blueberries and blackberries in a blender or food processor until completely smooth.
3- Mix the apple juice into the puree and pour puree mixture into pop molds.
4- Place molds in the freezer for 4-5 hours or completely frozen.

Yield – roughly enough puree to fill 10oz worth of molds
Storage – will last in freezer for 3 months

* You can also use full fat coconut milk. The key is to have a heavy fat content so the cream doesn’t incorporate into the puree as fast.


***Disclaimer – Zoku sent me a Space Pop Mold to try out for free. I did not receive any monetization for this posts. All thoughts and opinions about this product are my own.