Countdown to the end of summer… but it’s not over yet! There’s still time (and it’s still warm enough) to let an ice pop drip down your hand as you watch the fireflies come out.

 

You know Mama loves anything resembling ice cream so I was thrilled to find this Zoku Quick Pop™ Maker on sale (it usually sells for about $49.95, but I got it for much less… probably because it’s the end of summer).

Pop the base in the freezer overnight. When you’re ready to make your ice pops, insert the reusable sticks into the three 2-oz. molds. Fill the molds with juice or your own concoction (just make sure it is cold). In about 7-minutes, you’ll have three perfect ice pops. If you buy extra sticks, make enough mixture and move fast, you can make up to nine ice lollys.

We didn’t do anything elaborate, like make rainbow ice pops or strategically float fruit inside (like the official Zoku pictures to the right). We used plain watermelon juice and bits of peaches, which sunk to the bottom of the mold (which then turned out to be the top of the ice pop… which was okay).

And best of all… our pops were healthy because it was all fruit juice and fruit. I like that.

You can buy a special Zoku Tool Kit so you can make fancy-do ice pops. I’m thinking this would be fun for dessert at a dinner party: Coconut Kahlua ice pops with bits of chocolate (make sure the kids know these are only for Mom and Dad!). Of course, you can use the tool kit for fun kid pops, too.

The downside: It only makes 3 pops, so you have to buy more of the Zoku-made sticks (old fashioned wooden ice cream sticks won’t work).

The upside: It really works and they have a very user-friendly website (with great recipes). You can buy additional gadgets on the website, too. But look around. You might find it on sale as the final days of summer drip slowly away…

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