I’m easily lured to a clearance sale in the kitchen section of my local megamarket. This was the case one November where, for a whopping $3, I grabbed a set of popsicle molds with deluxe drip-resistant handles. The perfect thing for the start of a Canadian winter, right? I promptly put them in the back of the pantry and forgot about them for an indeterminite number of years.
Today it hit 37C on one of our rare summer days – that’s just shy of 100F for you farenheit fans – and the first batches of peaches for the year landed from our farmer friends in Ontario. You see where this is going. One rediscovered set of pop molds, some fresh fruit, and a little Bellini cocktail recipe inspiration later you get these cooling treasures on a stick. Made even more interesting by a bit of sparkle from the wine that really does come across even after freezing. I’ve already got five more flavour ideas in my head. I highly recommend investing a few pennies in a set of stick molds and spending a whole, hot day playing with flavours.
I’ve loved fresh peaches since the earliest days of my youth picking them on my grandfather’s farm walking with his cows – very clever gourmands they were – wandering in between the orchard rows scavenging for tree fall. Curiously, I can’t really be bothered with cooked or preserved peaches. The flavour just isn’t the same and I think my brain sees those as lost fresh peach opportunity. Off the tree for me if possible but these gently blended and frozen affairs do a fair job of preserving the fresh peach essence I crave. At least until they melt in the heat.
Peach Bellini Creamsicles
Yield varies depending on size of molds, usually about six creamsicles.
4 medium ripe peaches (~375g or 310g of prepared fruit)
70g sugar (~1/3 cup)
Pinch of sea salt (no more)
185g (~1 cup, 235ml) 18% cream *
10g (~2 teaspoons) lemon juice
250 ml Italian Prosecco or similar sparkling wine
Whole prepared fruit for decoration (optional)
* Dairy alternatives are untested but might work… if they’ll freeze. Many don’t. You’ve been warned.
For easy peeling, dip each peach in boiling water for 20 seconds followed by an ice bath or very cold tap water. Remove peel and pit then place resulting flesh in a high-speed blender. Add sugar, salt, and cream then blend until smooth.
Add lemon juice and prosecco then pulse briefly. Place any decoration into popsicle molds and fill with peach mixture slowly to avoid air pockets. Freeze at least six hours before serving.
– msh v.1.3
