After this weekend I can definitely say that popsicle (ice pops) season is arrived. I love homemade popsicles: you can use seasonal fruit and avoid all the sugar and food coloring that they use in the store bought ones. It’s simply healthier and less expencive…and it’s extremely easy!
While I was preparing some pops for my little Luca (3 yrs) I was looking at baby Alex curious face (1 yr) and I thought that he deserved a refreshing treat too: that’s how I ended up with those fruity baby popsicle drops!
Luca was so intrigued by the final result (tiny shape that melts in your mouth) that he helped his little brother to enjoy the baby popsicles 🙂
How to make them:
I used 4 incredibly sweet plums from the farmer’s market, but you can use any seasonal sweet fruit you like (peaches, strawberries, apricots..) in addition to one banana that will give a creamy touch to the pops.
Peel the plums and chop them in big pieces into a food processor/blender. If you want you can leave the peel on. If you are preparing the pops for little babies (6/9 months) I suggest to remove the peel as the fruit will be easier to digest. If you are preparing the pops for older babies (around 1 year) you can keep the peel with all its vitamins.
Add the banana, the yogurt and the vanilla paste and blend everything together for 1/2 minutes. You want to obtain a creamy smooth mix. I used vanilla Greek yogurt as it is creamier and my little Alex really likes it. I also used vanilla paste and not vanilla extract as the extract contains alcohol, compared to the paste that doesn’t.
Take a baking sheet covered with some parchment paper. Attention: check that the baking sheet you are using can fit into your freezer or you will have a problem later 🙂
With a teaspoon create tiny little drops of fruit smoothie one next to the other. I used 1/2 teaspoon for every drop but you can create bigger drops if you like.
Once the baking sheet is filled with drops, place it in the freezer for at least 20 min and you will obtain healthy baby popsicle drops. They will melt in your baby’s mouth in few seconds leaving a nice refreshing feeling.
With the quantity I suggested I was able to prepare two layers of drops. After 20 minutes I placed a second layer of parchment paper on top of the first one and I kept creating my drops with the teaspoon.
Once the drops are frozen you can remove them easily from the parchment paper and store them in the freezer in a small plastic zip log or in an airtight container.
Enjoy!!
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