Watermelon Ice Lollies

For the UK, summer is almost here, and the bottom draw of my family's freezer is full of lemonade and orange ice lollies which I eat on most days.  Years ago, we had some ice lolly moulds and I think it would be a good idea to use them to make some delicious fruit lollies.  I found the following recipe for watermelon ice lollies in The Icecreamists by Matt O'Connor.  Due to the possible use of bone char in the process of making the caster sugar in the recipe, I'm not sure how suitable it would be for vegans.  Have a great week!

Ingredients (to make 6-8 ice lollies)
100ml (3 1/2 fl oz) water
100g (3 1/2 oz) caster sugar
flesh from 1 watermelon, seeds discarded
juice of 1 lime

Method
1. Pour the water into a pan and add the sugar.  Place over a low heat and bring to the boil, whisking constantly, until the sugar dissolves.  Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 5 minutes, continuing to whisk until the liquid turns has the consistency of a syrup.  Set aside and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
2. Put the watermelon flesh in a blender, pulse until crushed, then sieve into a measuring jug.  You should have around 500ml (17fl oz) of juice.
3. Add the watermelon juice and lime juice to the syrup and whisk together.  Pour into lolly moulds, filling them about two-thirds full so that the mixture is able to expand as it freezes.  Place in the freezer for about 30 minutes, until almost solid, then insert a stick in each one.  Freeze for another 30 minutes.

Instant Chocolate Mousse

Three years ago, I found this recipe for chocolate mousse that didn’t involve eggs (safer because of the uncooked eggs salmonella risk) in Nigella Express.  It involves mini marshmallows instead, and tastes really nice as well.

Ingredients (Serves 4-6)

150g mini marshmallows
50g soft butter
250g dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids), chopped into small pieces
60ml hot water from a recently boiled kettle
1 x 284ml tub double cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

1. Put the marshmallows, butter, chocolate and water in a heavy-based saucepan.

2. Put the saucepan on the hob, over heat, though keep it fairly gentle, to melt the contents, stirring at regular intervals.  Remove from the heat.

3. Meanwhile, whip the cream with the vanilla extract until thick, and then fold into the cooling mixture until you have a smooth, consistent mixture.

4. Pour or scrape into 4 glasses or ramekins, about 175ml in capacity, or 6 smaller (125ml) ones, and chill (in a fridge, just to specify) until you want to eat.

I intend to write my next post this Friday and then continue to post every Friday, so until then, have a great week!

Vegan-Friendly Banana and Blueberry Ice Cream

So this is my first proper post, and I haven't even said hello yet, but I couldn't think of much to say about myself other than hey, I'm Katie and I'm going to try to regularly post recipes here. 

I'm going to start with a recipe that I tried today after looking through the Instagram of the Melbourne-based Green Girls Gang (although I don't even have an Instagram).  What I made was a vegan-friendly banana and blueberry ice cream, and even though I'm not a vegan or even a vegetarian, I have a rather "yayyy, fruit" attitude, and I already had the necessary ingredients in my kitchen to make this tasty ice cream.

Ingredients
4-8 bananas
1/2 cup frozen blueberries

Method
1. Chop the bananas into halves (or slices, as I found halves quite difficult for the blender) and freeze in a ziplock bag overnight.
2. Put the bananas into a high-speed blender, add 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries and pulse until reaching a smooth, ice-creamy texture.
3. Sprinkle with optional toppings and enjoy!