LYCHEE, COCONUT & STRAWBERRY HOMEMADE ICE POPS

Lychee is basically the creaming soda of the fruit world. It's more than a touch luxurious, with it's exotic spiky red shell and creamy vanilla centre. Last week I asked you guys what summer tastes like to you, and there were sooo many good ideas! We had everything from basil & peach to salted tequila! Thank-you so much for your input,  I hope to create many more in the summery future! There were a couple of people who mentioned lychee, including the winner of the two VIP Tickets to Taste of Auckland (*happening this week!*) thanks to Fisher & Paykel, and lychee just stuck in my mind. ​

These lipsmackingly good iceblocks are just 4 ingredients:

250ml Coconut water
1-2 tbsp of a mild natural sweetener, like rice malt syrup, to taste
12-15 lychee, peeled & deseeded (you can also used tinned lychee. I had trouble finding one that wasn't preserved in a sugary syrup so if you do go for a can you don't need to use any extra sweetener)
5 Strawberries, sliced lengthways

Ice block moulds 
Ice block sticks
​

Makes 6-8 ice popsdepending on the size of your moulds

Method 

Add lychee, 1/2 the coconut water and ricemalt syrup  to a high speed blender and process for about 30 seconds. Once smooth add the remaining coconut 
Pour into ice pop molds and place in the freezer for one hour (set a timer). 

After the timer goes off, remove from the freezer and gently push strawberry pieces into each ice pop. Your mixture should have thickened enough to keep the strawberries from sinking to the bottom.

Gently insert popsicle sticks into the centre of each mold. To keep the sticks upright, you can place a sheet of tinfoil over the molds, pierce the foil with the ends of the sticks and slide down to the base. 

 Freeze for a further 4 + hours until frozen

Enjoy!

Thanks very much to Fisher & Paykel and the Social Kitchen Theatre at Taste of Auckland who supported this post and inspired me to get creative with summer flavours. Hopefully I'll see you there! x