Saturday 20 July 2013

Watermelon Ice Lollies Great for Toddlers

If I can encourage you to do one thing this summer, which is setting out to be a scorcher, is buy an ice lolly mould.  Ice lollies are so expensive to buy and often full of sugar, artificial food colourings and other stuff which isn't all that great for kids.

Much better is to make your own lollies out of fruit or fruit juice with a little added sugar if needed.  Even if you do add something to make it sweeter, it's still far more natural, lower in added sugar and can count towards their 5 a day!  In fact, one of these ice lollies contains 60g of fruit and only around half a teaspoon of added sugar.



So here is my latest ice lolly recipe.  My 3 year old said "I like pink lollies best" when he had one of these and was upset when I wouldn't give him one at 6:30pm because it was bath time!

Low Sugar Watermelon Ice Lollies - made about 5 but depends on the size of your moulds

Ingredients

300g, 11oz Watermelon, preferably the seedless kind or the type with only soft seeds or see method
1 tbsp Caster sugar (may need slightly less, depending on how sweet your melon is)

Method

If you have a watermelon with seeds, you may find the majority of them are in a single layer.  To save hassle, cut this layer out, otherwise you have a little bit of a job picking out the black seeds.  If the seeds are soft and whiteish then just leave them in.

Cut up the flesh into small pieces and put into a blender.  You need 300g / 11oz of cut up fruit.  Add the sugar and blend.  You might need to shake it a bit and poke it down to get it going but once it starts, the watermelon will blend really easily.  Don't be tempted to add water.

Once you have a smoothish slush, pour into the moulds and leave to freeze overnight.

Help to remove from the moulds by running the outside of the mould under warm water and easing out the lolly.


13 comments:

  1. I've used fruit juice to make popsicles before, but I'd never thought of using fruit puree. I'll have to give this a try. Do you think Strawberries would work instead of watermelon? -Aaron

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    1. I think it would, why not? The only thing is that strawberries are pretty much all fragrance rather than flavour so you might need more sugar and maybe a little acid, e.g. lemon juice otherwise once frozen it might not shine through but try it!

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    2. Hi ! Will have to try this watermelon one asap.
      You've mentioned strawberries : I've just tried out a recipe that uses strawberries -- with condensed milk and cranberry juice! It works, and is delicious ! So creamy.

      200g Carnation Condensed Milk Light
      275g (10oz) fresh strawberries
      100ml (3fl oz) cranberry juice

      Read more at http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/490566/Strawberry-milk-lollies#BHEUkvI5HwpFyDEU.99

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  2. Oh they are a great way to get one of their 5 a day and help cool day.
    Thank you for sharing.
    #CreativeMonday

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    1. I would post this just as the weather breaks! Currently we have thunder!

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  3. Lovely. It's getting awfully hot so popsicles will definitely be a favourite. Have you tried adding mint to the watermelon? It's very yummy!

    www.greenissuessingapore.blogspot.com

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    Replies
    1. No but I'm not much of a mint fan unless it's with spicy food. I can see how it might work though.

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  4. Great idea :)

    Thanks for sharing on Creative Mondays

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Thanks again for sharing, featuring and pinning this week at the hop :)

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  5. This would be a nice treat at any age. Healthy and refreshing.
    Thanks for sharing!
    This is so adorable! Wonderful job well done with this! Looking forward to seeing more.
    Stopping by from "Mom's Monday Mingle". Now following you on GFC and Twitter.
    Have a great week :)
    Bismah @ Simple Mama

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