Double Chocolate Passion Fruit Popsicles
Aug 09, 2019
I think there's hardly someone who likes passion fruit more than I do. And raspberries and the combination of both. But I digress. These popsicles were probably the best thing my wicked pastry mind came to think during this hot summer.
In a previous life, when I was working full-time as a pastry chef, I used to make ice cream a lot. But when you're working in a hot kitchen, with everything going strong, it can be very hard to make such things (not to mention tempering chocolate as well. Oh lord.), specially popsicles. The ice cream melts right after it's churned and you're always stuck with ice cream that is too hard to mold or practically melting. I remember going often to the walk-in fridge to work with those to prevent it from completely collapsing.
But to make these at home is another story, much more pleasant though. Unless you live somewhere really hot without AC (been there, done that), it should be fine to make and mold them. Otherwise, you can skip the whole molding part and put both ice cream and filling into a loaf pan or half liter containers and freeze them as is. However, if you do go with the molding part, just make sure you insert the wooden sticks right after putting in the filling just so it stays in the right place and doesn't move much.
And for dipping, here goes another cool tip: if you mix the chocolate with more cocoa butter (I'm using 20% in weight) and melt them both together, the chocolate becomes more fluid and it sticks better to the ice cream without making a too thick coat. I did dip the popsicles three times to make sure they were even (and because who doesn't like more chocolate in their ice cream?) and ended up with a nice coat of chocolate that was just right in thickness.
Any leftover chocolate can be tinted with yellow powdered coloring (or any fat-based food coloring), mixed very well and drizzled on top of the popsicles for decoration.
For the molds, I really recommend silicone molds and ended up using these molds here. I often use Silikomart molds and also own these two models (classic and chic) but they yield less popsicles at a time and I just don't have time anymore to keep coming back and forth for these things. So a mold with more cavities was more convenient for me to handle those.
These recipes yield way more than you'll need for the popsicles. But worry not, just move whatever you don't use for them into half-liter containers and freeze them for later. They will keep well in the freezer for a couple months, but I doubt they will last more than a few days. True story.
Double Chocolate Passion Fruit Popsicles
Ingredients
- 200 g sugar
- 2 eggs
- 500 ml cream 35%
- 250 ml passion fruit puree
- 300 g sweetened condensed milk
- 50 g milk chocolate
- 20 g butter
- 300 g white chocolate
- 60 g cocoa butter
Instructions
- For the ice cream:
- In a medium pot, whisk the sugar and eggs until lighter and sugar is combined. Add the cream and bring this mixture over medium heat until it reaches 75C/170F, mixing constantly with a silicone spatula. Take it from heat, add the passion fruit puree and transfer to a container. Let cool in the fridge overnight and then churn it on the next day according to your ice cream machine instructions.
- For the filling:
- Mix all the ingredients on a medium pot over medium heat. Keep stirring with the help of a silicone spatula until the milk chocolate and butter is melted and the mixture has thickened to a fudge-like consistency, about 10 minutes. It's important to always continue to mix it otherwise it may get some burned bits in the bottom that will harden later. Once done, let cool for about 3-4 minutes then transfer it to a piping bag. Let cool to room temperature.
- To assemble:
- Prepare a half-size tray or cookie tray that fits your mold and in your freezer with the silicone mold on top. Scoop about 1 tbsp of ice-cream and place it in the first cavity of the mold. Spread it all over the cavity with the help of a spatula or a spoon.
- Pipe one small stripe of filling in the middle, making sure to not over do it. Place the wooden stick into the cavity, putting it on top of the filling, slightly pressing it down. Scoop another 1/2 tbsp of ice cream on top of the cavity and smooth it all down with the help of a spatula. Repeat the same for the remaining cavities. Don't worry if it's not perfect because it will freeze later and then you can remove all the weird bits.
- Freeze the popsicles for a minimum of 4 hours or best overnight.
- For coating:
- Prepare a small tray with parchment paper and place it in the freezer. In a tall and narrow microwaveable container (make sure it's tall enough to coat the popsicle) melt the white chocolate and the cocoa butter in 30-second bursts. Mix them together to combine. Remove the popsicles from the mold and place them in your prepared tray. Take them out of the freezer one by one and dip all the way into the melted white chocolate coating 2-3 times, scraping any excess. Place it back into the freezer and proceed with the next one.
- Any remaining white chocolate coating can be colored with yellow powdered food coloring and drizzled over the popsicles for decoration.
- Leftover ice cream and filling can be stored together in freezable and covered containers for up to 2 months.
