End of Recess – Blackberry* Ice Pops

My name is Paula and I survived TWO WHOLE MONTHS  of summer school recess with a 2-year-old at home. *applause*

Don’t get me wrong, I loved every second of it and probably gonna cry a river when the school gates close next Monday, but it requires a lot of imagination to entertain these little devils.

We painted real masterpieces with our fingers, crafted precious noodle jewelry, bought a fish now baptized as Hippopotamus, planted a black bean seed that now is getting gigantic and has to be transplanted to a vase, put our bathing suits to play in the shower on a rainy day, watched Snow White, The Lion King and The Little Mermaid a thousand times, baked cookies, draw on the living room wall with a red crayon (well, my participation on this one was only in the cleaning part) and made blackberry ice pops.

Blackberry* Ice Pops (makes 6 small pops)

These are pretty easy to put together, great to make with kids. I don’t have ice pop molds – the shot glasses worked very well and I believe small dixie cups would work too. For you guys on a diet, the sugar can be substituted by artificial sweeteners, to the taste.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups frozen blackberries (or any other berry)
• 1/3 cup sugar (or to the taste)
• 1/3 cup hot water
• 6 shot glasses
• 6 pop sticks

Place the fruit and sugar in a food processor or a blender. Add hot water and beat for several minutes, until the mixture turns into a purée. Pass through a sieve, pressing well, and discard seeds.

Transfer the mixture to the glasses and place the pop sticks. Freeze for at least 4 hours.

To release the ice pops, dip the glasses in warm water for a few seconds.

* There was a discussion on twitter if these are blackberries or mulberries, and I couldn’t find a reliable source of information to identify them. Here in Brazil they are all called amoras. Feel free to correct me anytime!