Five exciting and unusual ice lolly recipes

If you’ve spent the last few weeks sticking your head in an ice bucket, walking around the office bare foot and throwing water over your face in an attempt to cool off, you can stop. We have a solution. Cesar and Nadia Roden have released a book of 50 delicious gourmet ice lollies, the ultimate cooler in this scorching weather. Cesar started selling ice lollies on the South Bank and now he’s collected his finest recipes in Ice Kitchen: 50 Lolly Recipes, and they’re as much for adults as kids. Here we share five of their recipes.

Ice Kitchen: 50 Lolly Recipes (£12.99, Quadrille) by Cesar and Nadia Roden is out now

Blueberry & yoghurt ice lolly

Now that blueberries are abundant, their popularity has soared. This is great because the health benefits and flavour are utterly delightful, especially when teamed with their old friend yoghurt

Serves 8

Ingredients

300g blueberries
75ml plus 2 tablespoons water
65g granulated sugar
500g Greek yoghurt
160g (8 tablespoons) runny honey
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Put the blueberries, 75ml water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer over a low heat for 3–5 minutes until the blueberries burst.
Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
Mix together the yoghurt, honey, lemon juice and the 2 tablespoons water in a bowl.
Spoon alternate layers of the yoghurt and blueberry mixtures into each ice-lolly mould, leaving 5mm at the top to allow the mixture to expand when it freezes. Insert the lolly sticks and freeze.

Apricot & pistachio ice lolly

Apricots make deliciously velvety lollies. Make them in mid-summer before the apricots vanish for the year again. Choose ones that are only very slightly soft and have a sweet aroma, as those are the tastiest. This combination has a Middle Eastern charm.

Serves 8

Ingredients

375ml water
130g granulated sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
500g apricots, cut in half and pitted
½ teaspoon almond extract
35g shelled pistachios, chopped

Put the water, sugar and lemon juice in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the sugar has dissolved.
Add the apricots and simmer until they have broken down – about 5–10 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.
Stir in the almond extract and chopped pistachios until well mixed.
Pour the mixture into your ice-lolly moulds, leaving 5mm at the top to allow the mixture to expand when it freezes.
Insert the lolly sticks and freeze.
It’s nice to roll the lollies in pistachios before serving, too.

Raspberry and Lime ice lolly recipe by Ice Kitchen

Raspberry & lime ice lolly

This is sweet and tangy with a subtle undercurrent of lime. We don’t strain out the raspberry seeds for the carts and most people have no problem with that – in fact they love the realness of it. But if you prefer a smooth, silky texture we recommend straining the mixture through a fine sieve.

Ingredients

8-10
210g granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 1 lime
300ml water
500g raspberries, rinsed
2–3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

Put the sugar, lime zest and 100ml of the water in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the sugar has dissolved.
Put the raspberries in a food processor with the lime syrup and the remaining water and blend to a purée.
Add 2 tablespoons of the lime juice and taste to see if it’s sharp enough. If not, add a little more to achieve an equal balance of sweet and sharp.
Pour the mixture into your ice-lolly moulds, leaving 5mm at the top to allow the mixture to expand when it freezes.
Insert the lolly sticks and freeze.

Banana and Chocolate ice lolly recipe by Ice Kitchen

Banana chocodip ice lolly

Monkey around with this lolly that children love. You can add a couple of spoons of Nutella, peanut butter or oat bran to the mix if you desire – it’s all good! The banana flavour mysteriously intensifies the longer the lollies stay frozen.

Serves 8

Ingredients

3 medium bananas
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
150ml double cream
175ml whole milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
100g milk or dark chocolate
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Put the bananas, lemon juice, cream, milk, vanilla, and maple syrup or honey in a food processor and blend until smooth.
Pour the mixture into your ice-lolly moulds, leaving 5mm at the top to allow the mixture to expand when it freezes.
Insert the lolly sticks and freeze.

Mojito ice lolly

We created this lolly for an outdoor summer wedding party near London. It’s Cesar’s favourite cocktail and we were determined to develop it as a lolly. It’s since become a top-seller at the cart on the South Bank for people to wind down with in the evening along the river. If you put too much rum in this it will turn mushy, so if you want more, dip the frozen lolly in rum as you eat it.

Serves 8

Ingredients

500ml water
155g granulated sugar
20g fresh mint leaves plus 20 extra leaves
200ml freshly squeezed lime juice (from about 5–6 limes)
4 tablespoons white rum
10 extra thin lime slices to suspend in the moulds

Put the water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to the boil.
Remove the pan from the heat and drop in the 20g of mint leaves.
Cover with a lid, refrigerate and steep for a few hours or overnight.
Strain the syrup through a fine sieve, squeezing any juice from the mint leaves back into the pan. Finely chop 10 of the 20 extra mint leaves and add them to the syrup with the lime juice and rum and
mix well. It should taste quite sharp.
Drop a slice of lime into each ice-lolly mould along with a mint leaf.
Ladle in the mixture, leaving 5mm at the top to allow the mixture to expand when it freezes. Insert the lolly sticks (the lime slices will be pushed down again to the bottom by the sticks) and freeze.