Strawberry yogurt ice pop

Last week an online shop called Gadgets & Cuina sent me Zoku Quick Pop Maker for review. I had been long wanting to try one of these ice pop makers, which until now couldn’t be found here an Spain for sell.

The Zoku Quick Pop Maker is basically a plastic base filled with a liquid (the same kind of liquid to be found on ice cream makers). I tried the 2-pops version, which presents two individual molds for popsicles set into the base, and which in theory allows you to prepare 6 ice pops without refreezing the base. The molds are made of non-stick cast aluminum so that the pops can be easily removed when frozen. The set includes 4 popsicle sticks made of plastic.

To use the Quick Pop Maker, first of all the base has to be frozen for 24 hours (-18 ºC or lower). When you are ready to prepare the pops, you just have to insert one stick into each mold, pour in liquid of your choice, and wait for it to freeze, about 10-12 minutes for simple pops, depending on the ingredients. A special device called Super Tool screws into the stick and helps to lift the frozen popsicles from the mold. Please find here a video showing how the Zoku machine works for your convenience.

And this is my review:

THE PROS:

  • Easy to use. It’s actually very easy to use, even without reading the instructions anyone can prepare popsicles. Besides the fact you do not have cords to plug in.
  • Small and compact to fit in freezer
  • It works really quick. You want ice pops, and in few minutes you can enjoy your homemade popsicle. But it will take longer than 7-9 minutes that are mentioned on the instructions sheet
  • Really fun and aesthetically creative: with the Zoku Quick Pop Maker you can prepare filled pops, decorate them with faces, flowers, stripes, dots, shapes, make colorful pops … there are endless posibilities!
  • The texture of the pops is wonderful, almost like a sorbet. Since they freeze really quickly, the ice crystals stay very small
  • Healthy. You can prepare ice pops more natural and healthier than commercial ones: with fruits, no artificial flavours or colours, with less sugar, … The choice of ingredients is up to you!

THE CONS:

  • It takes longer to prepare the popsicle than 7-9 minutes as advertised by the manufacturer (7-9 minutes). I’d say the average time to make popsicles is 15 minutes, and some versions published here have taken even longer to freeze … I will depend on the ingredients (lemonade freezes quicker than yogurt for instance), and the decoration (layered pops take longer for example)
  • The base can not be used for three batches before refreezing, as promised by the instructions sheet. In fact, as I told before I tried the 2 units version, which in theory allows you to prepare 6 pops before refreezing, and the set only includes 4 sticks, which in my opinion indicates that the manufacturer does not expect you to prepare more than 4 pops at a time (2 batches)
  • You need a freezer that gets to -18C or lower. Otherwise this will not work
  • The sticks are too long for a normal sized mouth
  • If you’re thinking of buying the
    machine to prepare pops with artificial sweeteners, according to the instructions manual it will not work, since the pops will not set properly
  • If you buy it, you are going to eat plenty of ice pops… they are really good!

Disclaimer: While Gadgets & Cuina did provide me with the ice pop machine, I was not monetarily compensated and all opinions in this post are my own..

Note on the recipes: all of these recipes can be prepared with another kind of ice pop (without a Zoku), altough it will take more time for freezing and you will probably have to modify the decoration


Strawberries- Yogurt Ice Pops
Polos de fresa y yogur
Strawberries, sugar, yogurt and milk


{Strawberry-Yogurt ice popsicles}

Preparation: 15 min

Cooking time: 5 min

Yield:

Ingredients

  • 250 g strawberries, washed
  • juice of 1 lemon (optional)
  • 100 ml water
  • 50 g sugar
  • 125 g sweetened greek yogurt
  • 50 ml milk

Directions

  1. Blend strawberries until smooth, and strain through a fine mesh strainer if desired. Add lemon juice, and keep in the fridge until you are going to prepare the pops
  2. Put water and sugar into a saucepan and boil without stirring for 5 minutes. Let it cool
  3. When cooled, add strawberries sauce, and mix well (this mixture can be kept in the fridge inside an airtight container up to a week)
  4. In another bowl, mix yogurt and milk. Set aside
  5. Insert pop sticks in mold. Fill the pop molds just below the pour line with strawberries purée
  6. Allow to set about 1-2 minutes, or until you see the outer edges harden
  7. Using a straw, or the handy suction tool from the Tool Kit, suck out the inner strawberries sauce from the core
  8. Carefully pour in the yogurt filling. Allow to set a for 8-10 minutes until solid. Use the Super Tool to unlock the ice pop. Serve.
Polos tipo Drácula (fresa, vainilla y Coca Cola)
Count Drácula popsicles

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Polos tipo Drácula (fresa, vainilla y Coca Cola)
Made with Coke, vanilla icecream, and strawberries sauce


{Count Dracula Popsicles}

Preparation: 15 min

Cooking time: 20 min

Yield:

Ingredients

  • 1 can of Coke (33 cl)
  • black food colouring (optional)
  • 2 vanilla icecream scoops, melted
  • 50 ml milk
  • 200 ml strawberries sauce, prepared as indicated in the previous recipe (125 g strawberries, blended until smooth, and sugar syrup prepared with 50 g water and 25 g sugar, boiled for 5 minutes)

Directions

  1. Pour coke on a small saucepan, and let it simmer at low heat for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool. Add a few drops of black food colouring (optional, just for aesthetical reasons)
  2. Mix unfrozen vanilla icecream with milk, and stir
  3. Insert pop sticks in mold. Fill the pop molds with coke reduction to about 3/4 capacity
  4. Allow to set about 1-2 minutes, or until you see the outer edges harden
  5. Using a straw, or the handy suction tool from the Tool Kit, suck out the core
  6. Carefully pour in the strawberries filling to about 1/2 capacity. Allow to set a for 5-8 minutes until solid.
  7. When solid, pour in vanilla mixture and fill the mold till the limit line
  8. Use the Super Tool to unlock the ice pop. Serve.
Polos de SandeeA
Watermelon popsicles
Polos de SandeeA (Sandía)
Chocolate chips, grenadine and kiwi liqueur (without alcohol)


{Watermelon popsicles}

Preparation: 15 min

Cooking time: no cooking needed

Yield: 2 popsicles

Ingredients

  • 100 ml grenadine
  • 20 ml kiwi liqueur (no
    alcohol)
  • 15 small chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Dip the chocolate chips in some grenadine (to help the chocolate stick to the mold) and attach the chocolate chips to one side of the mold using the Zoku fruit wand (this part was not easy, it took some patience)
  2. Insert pop sticks in mold. Fill the pop molds with grenadine to about 5/6 capacity
  3. Allow to set about 10 minutes,
  4. Carefully pour in the kiwi liqueur. Allow to set a for another 5 or until solid.
  5. Use the Super Tool to unlock the ice pop. Serve.
Polos Barras y Estrellas
Stars and stripes popsicles
Polos Barras y Estrellas
Apple, strawberries, sugar and Blue Tropic


{Stars and stripes popsicles}

Preparation: 30 min

Cooking time: 15 min

Yield: 2 popsicles

Ingredients

  • half an apple, or pear
  • 40 ml strawberries sauce, prepared as indicated above
  • 40 ml milk mixed with 1 tsp sugar
  • 40 ml blue tropic liqueur (no alcohol)

Directions

  1. Slice apple or pear 1/8 inch thick or less (pear sticks better) and add these into a bowl of water and lemon to stop fruit oxidation
  2. Cut the fruit with the star fruit stencil found in the Zoku Tool Kit and attach 3 or 4 stars to bottom left of the molds using the fruit wand
  3. Insert the sticks, and add 10 ml strawberries sauce to each mold. Let it freeze (3 to 5 minutes). Add 10 ml sugared milk to each mold. Let it freeze (3 to 5 minutes)
  4. Add another 10 ml strawberries sauce to each mold. Let it freeze (3 to 5 minutes) Add another 10 ml sugared milk to each mold. Let it freeze again (3 to 5 minutes)
  5. Add 20 ml Blue Tropic liqueur to each mold, and let it freeze completely (about 5 minutes more)
  6. Use the Super Tool to unlock the ice pop. Serve.