Papaya & Coconut Pops (Gluten Free)

Up until this week's snowpocalypse, you'd be forgiven for thinking that winter had forgotten Sydney entirely this year. The days were still sunny and warm, and I hadn't even busted out my favourite scarves or taken my coats out of their dry cleaning sleeves from last year.

Salads and ice cream were still firmly on the menu, so when I received some beautiful red papaya and yellow pawpaw from Australian Papaya and Impact Communications, all I could think of were summery recipe ideas to show off the tropical fruit flavours.

It's one of the world's healthiest foods with a huge array of health benefits from immune boosting properties and helping protect against heart disease to cancer-fighting antioxidants and many others too. It truly is an amazing super food - and delicious too!

I had to ignore my instinct to add tequila, chilli and salt and make a tropical cocktail, especially after the week I've had, because the recipe was supposed to appeal to the kiddies and be family friendly. Most of the time when I eat papaya, all I add is a little squeeze of lime, so I decided to play with that concept and keep the flavours as pure as possible.

I created these stripy Papaya & Coconut Popsicles, which are completely gluten free and vegan too. To add a little bit of sweetness I made a simple syrup using coconut sugar and lime juice, and added that into some pureed fresh papaya, layered in popsicle molds with coconut milk. I think they turned out very cute! It's the perfect healthy and fun snack for kids and grownups alike.

And yes, in case you were wondering, I'm definitely making a cocktail with the leftover papaya! Happy Friday!

Papaya & Coconut Pops
Makes 4 (depending on your popsicle mold size)

• 1/2 red papaya, seeds scraped out and peeled, cut into large chunks
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar (or raw sugar)
• 1/2 cup water
• Juice of 1-2 limes
• 200ml coconut milk

Place cut papaya into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until liquid. Strain through a fine sieve into a jug and set aside. To make the simple syrup, combine water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved and liquid is syrupy. Remove from the heat and stir in the lime juice.
Add syrup gradually to the papaya, tasting often until you're happy with the level of sweetness. You may need more or less depending on how ripe and sweet the fruit was to begin with.
Spray the inside of plastic popsicle molds or shot glasses with a little cooking spray and use a clean finger to spread evenly over all inside surfaces. Add a little papapya mixture to the bottom of each mold and place in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes. After this time add a popsicle stick to each - the mixture should be frozen enough that the stick will stand up straight.
Add a little coconut milk to each and return to the freezer for a further 20-30 minutes. Repeat until molds are full all the way to the top and you have a nice stripy effect. Freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight.