Roasted Strawberry & Rhubarb Lassi Popsicles

Popsicle week might quickly come and go once a year, but summer really should be a pop-centric celebration all season long. I must say, each year when a group of us come together on the internet to try and reinvent this frozen treat, it's a great challenge of trying new flavors and ideas in petite frosty form.

Strawberries and rhubarb are still in peak season, so I wanted to take a new spin on this flavor combo by roasting them up and infusing with some savory spice...lassi edition! If you're not familiar with lassi - it's an Indian drink with yogurt, spices and fruit. Traditionally its savory notes come from cumin, but we're switching things up with a splash of rose water and freshly ground cardamon to bring some really vibrant notes through the slightly sour flavor of Icelandic yogurt (Filmjölk)

Icelandic yogurt is packed with probiotics, so we can pretend that this is a healthy snack, right?! Okay, we can at least agree it's good for your gut. There should absolutely be no guilt when it comes to popsicles, they do not count as calories and they never will. The end.

To add a little extra earthy sweetness, try puréeing some extra roasted strawberries and rhubarb into a luscious syrup. Drizzle that over your pops and sprinkle with finely chopped pistachios. It's a thing of beauty and all the flavors work well together in a creamy, fruity and nutty bite. Serve them up in little multicolored baskets for a mid-day treat that is as cute as it's clean (because let's be real, no one likes fruit juice melting down their shirt - kids and adults alike).

Here's to switching up your popsicle game this summer - let's me know if you try this out and I'd love to hear what's currently on rotation in your freezer!

- Roasted Strawberry & Rhubarb Lassi Popsicle -

Makes 12 standard sized popsicles

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cup mixture of strawberries & rhubarb cut into similar sized pieces

  1. Brown sugar to coat

  2. 2 cups plain Icelandic Filmjölk Yogurt Drink (I love using Siggi's)

  3. 1/4 tsp rose water

  4. ¼ teaspoon of cardamom powder

  5. Pinch of sea salt

  6. 2 tsp honey

  7. For topping: chopped toasted pistachios and reserved sauce, blitzed smooth

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350, cut strawberries and rhubarb and arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with brown sugar and toss to coat. Bake for 30 minutes and allow to cool to room temperature.

Add yogurt, ½ of roasted fruit, rose water, cardamom and salt into a blender. Pulse until smooth. Add 1/2 of the remaining roasted fruit into the bottom of popsicle mold and fill with yogurt mixture then freeze overnight. With the remaining reserved fruit and juices from the roasting pan, blitz in a food processor and store jam mixture in sealed container and refrigerate overnight.

TO SERVE

Remove popsicles from mold, place on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Blitz reserved roasted fruit and juices in a food processor until smooth. You can add 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water to reconstitute over medium heat if consistency is not similar to a syrup. Drizzle cold fruit syrup over each popsicle and sprinkle with chopped pistachios. Place back into the freezer for at least 15 minutes to set before enjoying.