Real Fruit Ice-lollies

Picture the scene: A gorgeous summer’s day, the sun is beating down on you, relaxing on your sun lounger, reading a book, sipping a cocktail… Paradise…Then boom, back to reality, the kids are running riot round the garden, kicking balls in your prized flower beds, shouting/ fighting/ arguing… So all you need to do is keep these lollies in your freezer, and use them as gobstoppers! That’s five more minutes uninterrupted, silent bliss for you!!! (I know, I’m good to you!)

These real fruit lollies are fat-free and have no added sugar, which unlike your ready made, shop-bought lollies means they’re totally good for the kids (and you)! This is such a quick and simple recipe, you can make them when you’ve got a spare fifteen minutes, and wait for a sunny day and whip them out the freezer!

Mango & passion

These really are refreshing little lollies, and a great way to get your kids eating fruit that they would otherwise turn their noses up at. One word of caution though, if you or your kids are a bit funny about ‘bits’ in their food, then it’s best to sieve the passion fruit. To make, simply puree your fruits and stir in the yoghurt and artificial sweetener, freeze overnight- job done!

• 150g Pureed mango
• 130g Fat-free natural yoghurt
• 1tsp Sugar substitute
• 3 Passion fruits

Strawberry & vanilla

These are so yummy, they’re like mini-milks apart from you get way more! You’ll have just as many adults clamouring for these as kids! You could easily replace the yoghurt with fat-free fromage frais or fat-free Greek yoghurt for a different texture and flavour. Directions as before.

• 230g Pureed strawberries
• 130g Fat-free natural yoghurt
• 1 tsp Vanilla bean paste

Pomegranate & Melon

You can choose whichever melon you fancy for these; I used a honeydew but watermelon would work nicely as well. Usually I would advocate using fresh fruit juice instead of concentrate, but I think that you would hate me forever if I advised you to pick all the seeds from a pomegranate. Trust me; I did it this way and not only did my kitchen look like a scene from CSI Miami, but I felt like Lady Macbeth trying to clean my hands of pomegranate juice! So take the short-cut, I won’t tell anyone if you don’t!!!

• 200g Pureed melon
• 100ml Pomegranate juice
• Zest of 1 lime

There are endless fruit combinations that would make lovely, refreshing lollies- so experiment! The only thing to consider is if you want to use citrus juice, avoid putting it with yoghurt/ fromage frais because it curdles it, and even after freezing it the texture is a little strange.

If you’re not sure if these recipes make the right quantity for your lolly moulds, then simply fill one of the lolly holes with water, measure the quantity of water then multiply it by how many lolly holes there are. If you do need to alter the recipes then use approximately two-thirds fruit mixture to one-third yoghurt.

So crack on then! Show me your fruit lolly pictures and tell me your winning combinations, and don’t forget to have a little relax in the sunshine- enjoy summer!!! Xxx