Blackberry Yoghurt Popsicles

There it was: the first flip-flop day of the year. And flip-flop days, even in quarantine, call for ice cream.

Ice cream it is. The recipe I dreamed up for you was inspired by a late summer day a few years back, when I took a detour on my bike ride to work and ended up passing by endless rows of blackberry shrubs full of ripe berries, ready for the picking. Struck by the rare phenomenon of berry bushes that hadn't been plucked bare, I returned after work that evening with a Tupperware box and set to work. This is what I did with them.

Ingredients (makes 4 popsicles):

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp honey

1 tbsp lemon juice

500g blackberries

1/2 cup yoghurt
Popsicle molds (if you don’t have those, you can use mini paper cups and wooden popsicle sticks)

Instructions:

1. In a saucepan, heat the water and sugar until the sugar is melted, then pour into a bowl and set in the fridge to cool. 

2. Puree the blackberries using a food processor or hand blender. Use a strainer (sieve) to separate the seeds from the liquid - the easiest way to do this is to use the back of a spoon to push the liquid through, in constant motion along the bottom of the strainer . The yield should be roughly 1 cup of thick blackberry 'juice'. Take this juice and mix it with the honey, yoghurt and chilled sugar syrup. 

3. Pour into popsicle mold and cover with the tops/sticks. If you don't have tops, cover with plastic wrap and set in the freezer, then stick in the popsticle sticks when they are halfway frozen. You get why.

4. To loosen the popsicles, dip the bottom of the popsicle old (yes, that means the side that doesn't have the stick in it) in hot water for 10-15 seconds.. Remove them from the molds and serve.