Pomegranate and Strawberry Popsicles

There is a gentle haze in the air that is making me feel nostalgic. It's that Summer heat that reminds me of perfect childhood holidays at the lake. I'm craving the smell of sunscreen, the cool freshness of jumping into the water and of course, ice cream!

Last weekend, while the sun was blazing, I made the popsicles I'd been dreaming up all week. Coconut milk, strawberries and pomegranate, dipped in dark chocolate. I made at least four stops on the way home to find a popsicle mold, but worth the effort it was!

Ingredients:

2 pomegranates
250g fresh strawberries, washed
1 can coconut milk
1 cup xylitol or vegan friendly sugar
100g slab vegan dark chocolate

Slice the pomegranates in half. Keep one half aside for decorating. Remove the seeds from the other three halves and place in a blender. Blend to a fine pulp. Strain the juice into a bowl through a sieve or muslin bag.

After rinsing the blender jug, add the pomegranate juice, coconut milk, strawberries and sugar. Blend until very smooth. Pour into the popsicle mold and freeze overnight.

Note: Depending on how many popsicles your mold makes, you will probably have some mixture left over. My mold only made four, so I had enough mixture left to make two big bowls of ice cream in my churner. If you prefer to make it all into lollies, you may need to do it in batches or buy more than one mold.

Once your lollies are completely frozen, melt your chocolate in a bowl over a pot of boiling water (see how I do it here). Allow the chocolate to cool as much as possible, without hardening again.

Unfortunately it's not quite as easy as simply dipping the lollies into the chocolate, as it tends to slide off. I used a teaspoon to pour chocolate over the top of each one and kind of had to smear to get it to stick. I then dipped it into the remaining pomegranate seeds, which also was a little tricky but a fun experiment!

Eat straight away or pop them back in the freezer on a plate for later (as if!). Enjoy! xxx