Pineapple, Apricot & Basil Popsicles

You gotta love a guy ^[4] who makes it a point to celebrate Popsicle Week ^[5]. I spent the entirety of 2014 dedicating my days to the national food holidays ^[6] so I have an appreciation for the celebration of food, in any kind of way. But, Billy, well he does it a millionty times better because he’s able to gather all of these bloggers together and have them participate in Popsicle Week by making these frozen treats you’ll want to be consuming all summer long.

Best week ever? I think so. Best summer ever? FOR SURE.

So here’s the deal. I currently have five boxes of fruit popsicles in my freezer. I bought a whole bunch when they were on sale at the grocery store because, both during my pregnancy and now beyond, I need to consume at least one popsicle on a daily basis. Do you know how hot it is here in Florida? Well, DO YOU? It’s scorching. And really humid. And yes, I’m in the A/C almost all the time, but popsicles are still completely necessary to cool off with.

Here’s how it went down. I promptly purchased a popsicle mold ^[7], browsed through my new favorite book The Flavor Bible ^[8], decided I wanted to go with some pineapple popsicles and got to work ASAP. With Mike’s help, we brainstormed many popsicle recipes, all of which will be featured at some point, but for Popsicle Week, my answer was clear: Pineapple, Apricot & Basil Popsicles.

Pineapples are one of my favorites fruits, apricots are in season, and desserts with fresh herbs are a dream. The combination of these flavors say SUMMER. In caps. SUMMER. Make them even more summer by adding a splash of vodka, yeah? Or, if you’re all like, “yeahhh, I want to boozehound it up because it’s beach season and what goes better together than the beach and margaritas?”, then bypass the popsicles and use the blended part of the recipe with your favorite tequila. But wait until after Popsicle Week to do so, okay? Otherwise, you’re disgracing the ‘sicle.

However, I’ve never made popsicles before. It was a guess on how it would all go and thankfully, it took only the one try to make it right. Is it even possible to mess up a popsicle? Tell me your horror stories, if you have them. Thinking we didn’t have enough ice for the amount of fruit we had, we added more and before we knew it, we had enough popsicle filling for 10 molds times two. If you only want 10 molds of this popsicle, then just half the recipe below. Although I don’t recommend it. I personally can eat 20 of these popsicles and I’d wager a bet that you can too.

One observation I’ve made with all-fruit popsicles is that they melt a lot faster so it’s like a race against time, especially when you’re outdoors. So go ahead and gobble up these popsicles in record time in record temps in record amounts. 😂

Print Recipe ^[9]

Pineapple, Apricot & Basil Popsicles

Yield: 20 popsicles

Perfect for summer, these popsicles are tart and sweet with a hint of earthy flavor from the fresh basil.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 4 cups ice
• 1 pineapple, half diced and half cut into chunks
• 2 apricots, peeled, 1 diced and 1 cut into chunks
• Fresh basil leaves from 6 stems, minced

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine sugar and water to make simple syrup. Stir occasionally until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2. In a blender combine ice, simple syrup, pineapple chunks (1/2 pineapple), and apricot chunks (1 apricot). Blend until only semi-smooth like a slushie.
3. Stir diced pineapple pieces, diced apricot pieces and basil into the blended mixture.
4. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze for at least four hours.