Chocolate Chipotle Paletas

If you know me at all you are likely aware I am a choc-oholic!  Deep dark chocolate anything makes my tastebuds sing a song of yumminess!  You know that one, right?? 🎤  I have made Chocolate Chill-potle Paletas many times, but recently realized, after I was asked for it, I never shared the recipe.  And sharing is important and fun!  So here is one of my favorite paleta recipes:

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate (I prefer 72%)
2 T dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder (adjust to taste)
2 cups half and half (you may substitute cream or any % milk preferred)

Warm chocolate, sugar and half and half over low heat just until chocolate melts.  Mix in cinnamon and chipotle chili powder.  Cool in refrigerator, pour into molds and freeze 6 hours or overnight.  Enjoy chocolate lusciousness!

Chocolate Chill-Potle Paletas

Frosty Food Furnishes Family Fun

Mmmmmm!  Mango!

Last weekend we visited our best friends from college days.  They live in a town that is only about a four hour drive from our home, but we don't see them as much as we would like.  When our two boys and their three children were younger, we vacationed together every few years and have some great stories and running gags from those trips.  All it takes to get the entire crowd laughing is for someone to say "minner cheese," an inside joke from a long-ago trip to Hot Springs. Since all the children are grown and our friends' children have little ones of their own, we were past due for a get together.

A Chef in the Making

The girls have followed the blog and when the granddaughter visiting from Chicago requested a lesson in paleta making, I was thrilled!  Evelyn is quite the precocious four-year-old and she eagerly made the trip to the market to choose flavors and find the best fruit available.  At the check stand, she twirled on my fingers and we danced while the groceries were bagged, anticipating the fun!  Back at the house she juiced lemons, pulverized the fruit, added the sugar, and did the critical taste testing required for proper paleta preparations.   We rushed to get the desserts in the freezer by noon so everyone would have frosty treats for the evening's dessert.  When we were finished, every surface of the kitchen was sticky, but we had, with the help of the little one's mother and grandmother, prepared 42 paletas in sweet, pink watermelon, mouth-watering mango, scrumptious strawberry banana, tangy orange-lime, and enticing vanilla-soaked cherries in chocolate almond milk.

What a celebration we had that night with 16 and two more on the way! And even though we call them friends, the term chosen family is a better fit.  When generations come together to play, laugh and learn from each other, paletas are a tasty treat, but extraneous for joy abounding.  The pleasure is in the work of furthering relationships and sharing passions with the next generation.  I recommend bringing children into the kitchen.  It's a recipe for discovering fun!

Sweet Watermelon Paleta

Delish Dessert

Healthy Treat for a Growing Boy

Mango Lime Recipe

Enjoying the Fruits of Her Labor     

2 1/2 cups fresh peeled mango, cut in 1 inch chunks  
1 lime, zest and juice
1/4 cup sugar or to taste
2 t fresh ginger grated or 1 t ground ginger

Combine mango chunks, the zest and juice of 1 lime, sugar and ginger in blender or Cuisinart and pulse until smooth. Divide evenly into molds. Add sticks and freeze 4-6 hours.

Fruitful Life

Ingredients for Paleta de Frutero 

Throughout my adult life, I have strived to be fruitful.  In my chosen vocation as an educator, I was certain not to gain monetary reward, but in forging relationships and caring for my student's intellectual and emotional well-being, I gained infinite compensation.  A teacher's calling is to be purposeful, fruitful in her own life, but true joy comes in observing the fruit produced in the lives of her students.  Through the World Wide Web, I have been fortunate to reconnect with 90 students I taught 27 years ago.  I knew them as adorable fifth graders, in the last year of true childhood.  It has been a beautiful experience to spend time with "my children" who are now adults.  They invite me into their lives, expand my world and I'm privileged to observe the fruitfulness they have gained with maturity.

As I prepared the ingredients for the fruit bowl paletas, thoughts of my "formers" passed through my mind:  the one who has made me a family member, the one who has worked with hurting people all over the world, the one whose life has been redeemed despite regrettable choices in earlier years, the one who is a loving and patient mother, the one who is the most thoughtful and solicitous person I've ever known, the one who rescues people in danger, the ones who have visited my home or invited me into theirs, called, sent messages, gifts and flowers, and the one who is now, to my total delight, developing young hearts and minds as a fifth grade teacher!

If my life were finished today, I would have experienced fruitfulness nurtured, grown and multiplied many times over.  These fruit bowl paletas are a delectable dessert, but thoughts of the fruit of my formers is sweeter still.

Pack Fruit Snugly in Molds

Fruit Bowl Paletas Recipe

adapted from Everyday Food Magazine

3/4 cup hulled strawberries, halved

2 kiwis, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch rounds

1/2 cup blueberries

1/4 cup Rainier cherries

1 mango, peeled and sliced

2 cups 100% white grape juice

1 T lemon juice

Arrange some of each fruit in popsicle molds, fitting pieces tightly.  Mix lemon juice with white grape juice.  Pour enough juice to cover fruit, freeze 45 minutes, insert sticks, freeze 4-6 hours more.  Any preferred fruit can be substituted in this recipe.

Fresa, Kiwi, Cerezas, Arándanos, Mango con Jugo de Uva Blanca

Paleta de Frutero

Worth the Bother?

This creamy popsicle is reminiscent of Bananas Foster.

Asado Paleta Plátano 

I discovered this recipe for baked banana ice pops in Paletas by Fany Gerson.  I had made paletas previously with bananas as an ingredient and on reading these instructions, I wondered "Why bother?"  Bananas are naturally sweet and squishy when ripe; what could be enhanced by adding extra steps?  In the wilderness wander of the last eight months, I have searched for purpose, wrestling with the "whys?" in life.  That's how the bananas got roasted.  

To say they look unappetizing coming out of the oven would be flattering.  The skin turns an unappealing shade of brown and they weep a thin milky liquid that escapes the foil wrapping.  The bananas must be cooled before adding cream, sugar, cinnamon and rum.  Compared to the usual procedure of cutting fresh fruit and simply adding a bit of sugar and lime, these paletas asados del plátano are a pain to prepare.  What could compel when a shortcut would do?

In extending hospitality, a hostess gifts guests with attention to their needs.  Food preferences are noted and in pursuing a visitor's pleasure, few recipes are too complex to be dismissed.  Like the bananas in this method, I've experienced heat and tears while cooking under pressure of dinner guests, but purpose is present in the delights I create for company in Cindy's Cozy Kitchen.  Grace is extended when guests are nurtured.  Tasters realize roasted banana paletas represent love on a popsicle stick.   That's why I bother.

Fill Molds and Add Cinnamon Stick

 
Roasted Banana Paleta Recipe
adapted from Paletas by Fany Gerson

3- 4 ripe bananas
1/8 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 t pure vanilla extract
1 t freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 t ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 T dark rum (optional)
6 cinnamon sticks

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Wrap the bananas with skin still on individually in foil.  Roast until cooked through and soft, about 30 minutes.

Let sit until cool enough to handle.  Put the flesh of bananas in a bowl and mash lightly with a fork.  Add brown sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Place the banana mixture in Cuisinart with milk, cream, vanilla, lemon juice, cinnamon, salt and rum.  Pulse until smooth.  Cool slightly and refrigerate until chilled.  Pour into molds, freeze 1 1/2 hours until mixture thickens, insert cinnamon sticks.  Freeze 4-6 hours total.

Sunset Slowdown

One discovered delight of time apart is a pace which allows taking note of creation.  On these blazing summer days, I'm often outdoors at dawn and in the evening I sit on the patio watching for wildlife in the woods beyond our boundary of backyard azaleas, lulled by peaceful cicada song.  I chill with a frozen treat and bring a book to read in last light until the fireflies begin to twinkle.  This tropical sunset paleta seems apropos for an evening's indulgence.  

Tropical Sunset Paletas Recipe

Adapted from Everyday Food Magazine

3 cups pineapple

6 T sugar, divided

3 cups strawberries, hulled

3 mangoes, peeled and pitted

1 lime, juiced

In a Cuisinart combine pineapple and 2 T sugar.  Blend until smooth.  Pour through fine mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing on solids with a spoon.  Catch puree in bowl.  Rinse Cuisinart, repeat process with strawberries, adding 2 T sugar, pressing solids through a fine mesh sieve, catch strawberry puree.  In rinsed Cuisinart, combine mangoes, 2 T sugar and lime juice, blend until smooth, pour through sieve and catch puree.

Divide pineapple puree among 6 small plastic cups.   Freeze until set about 1 hour, insert sticks.  Pour strawberry layer over pineapple layer, return to freezer until set, about 45 minutes.  Remove from freezer, top with mango layer and freeze 4-6 hours. Any fruit you favor can be substituted in this layered paleta.

Layered Flavors Pineapple and Strawberry

Puesta del Sol Tropical Paleta

Drunken Cherry Paletas

Paletas de Crema y Cereza con Tequila

What a delight to find specks of vanilla bean in the creamy base of this paleta along with sweet fresh cherries.  A kick of tequila is thrown in for the finish and the flavors are sublime.  This paleta will make your taste buds tipsy!  Like most things we crave, a little tequila gives the perfect punch, but add too much and your paleta won't freeze.

Sour Cream Cherry Paleta Recipe

adapted from Paletas by Fany Gerson

2 cups fresh cherries, stemmed and pitted

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 t lemon juice

2 T silver tequila

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 t salt

1 vanilla bean split 

1 1/2 cups sour cream

Place cherries and powdered sugar in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture comes to a boil.  Lower heat, add lemon juice, cook and stir until thickened to maple syrup consistency.  Remove from heat, stir in tequila, refrigerate until completely chilled.  

Drain cherries, combine milk, granulated sugar and salt in a saucepan.  Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into the mixture and add pod.  Cook over medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved and mixture comes to a boil.  

Remove from heat, add sour cream and blend with a whisk until smooth.  Discard vanilla bean pod and refrigerate mixture until thoroughly chilled.  Place about 1 inch of sour cream mixture into each mold and freeze for about 40 minutes, or until set.  Divide cherries among molds, pour in the remaining sour cream mixture and add sticks.  Freeze 4-6 hours.  

Avocado Astonishment

One of the fascinating aspects of concocting paletas is imagining interesting ingredients. When most people think of ice pops, fruity sweet syrups and artificial flavors are expected.  The only common ground between purchased popsicles and paletas is the fact that both are frozen treats.

When asked to name a favorite flavor amongst the paletas I've made, I often answer "avocado." This  usually surprises and confounds the questioner.  Avocados typically bring to mind savory guacamole and trips to a Tex-Mex restaurant. A green fruit which is normally used as a garnish is a startling base for a popsicle.  But add a little sugar, lime juice, some zest and it is oh-so-delicious!

I've recently found that exploring the unexpected is rewarding.  Instead of dreading disorientation, I  found creativity clamoring in a time of disquiet.  On tasting an avocado paleta for the first time, a friend remarked that her taste buds were confusing her mind. In a good way. Exactly!

Avocado Lime Paletas Recipe

4 avocados, peeled and pitted
2 small limes juiced plus zest of 1 lime
1/4 cup sugar or more to taste
1/4-1/2 cup water optional*

Place green flesh of avocado, juice of 2 limes and zest of 1 lime and sugar in Cuisinart.  Pulse until completely smooth.  Add water and pulse again if a less dense, more icy paleta is desired.*  Spoon into molds, add sticks.  Freeze 4-6 hours.   

Brooke <3's Her "Green Ice Cream"

Opposites Attract

In life, attempt to be a complementary flavor; it is the attractive option.  

An often repeated phrase is "opposites attract" and I certainly see the proof of it in life.  My friend from college days, Lisa, is 4'10".  Her husband of 32 years is 6'5", and yes, people turn and stare as these two, on opposite ends of the vertical spectrum, walk past.  How could people be so different?  A dog lover falls for a woman with cats, the party girl pairs with the computer geek, an ISTJ personality type walks down the aisle with an ENFP.  This can make for an interesting combination or instantaneous combustion, once the goo-goo eyes go away.

When the choice is made to appreciate our differences and learn from those who appear to be opposite, we become tempered and transformed into a fruitful, more tolerant version of ourselves.  As I prepared lime pie paletas, I recalled a time when two co-workers, Jon and Cathy, could not have been more opposite from me in their work habits and styles.  We chose to value our differences and in collaboration, let each other's strengths shore up individual weaknesses.  Instead of launching a war to best one another, we loved, and through appreciating our dissimilarities, the individuals were immensely enhanced.  In a few years, those colleagues moved on, if only the cooperative spirit had remained...

Lime pie paletas bring together the tart, tangy taste of juicy limes played against the intense sweetness of Eagle Brand milk.  They provide a burst of flavor that combines and contrasts at once.  They are opposite individual tastes, rolled in a graham crust which blend to make a delectable, more perfect whole.
Lime Pie Paletas Recipe
Adapted from Paletas by Fany Gerson

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup half-and-half
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2 t lime zest
1/4 t salt
2 cups crushed graham crackers

Combine sweetened condensed milk, half-and-half, lime juice and zest, and salt in a bowl and whisk until well-combined. Pour mixture into molds, insert sticks and freeze 4-6 hours until solid.  Unmold and allow to thaw very slightly, roll in graham cracker crumbs to coat and return to freezer or eat immediately.

pastel de lima de paleta

Vanilla Latte Helps Heat Vamoose

In the Heat Wave of Summer 2011, who needs a hot drink?  Even if you don't start the day with an hour's worth of exercise in 90% humidity, as I do, there is something less appealing about a steaming drink when it's sizzling outdoors.  Since most of us rely on coffee to motivate our mornings, I began to dream of substituting something frosty and cooling.

vainilla café paleta

This frozen treat is the opposite of what is expected, mirroring this time in my life.  What should be searing is shivery.  What should be upright is inverted.  What is considered dessert breaks the fast.  But delights abound when one relaxes into the previously unimagined.  I think this vanilla latte is paleta perfection!

Vanilla Latte Recipe

3 cups (24 oz) brewed strong coffee

1/4 cup milk

1/8 cup cream

1/8 -1/4 cup vanilla syrup to taste (recipe below)

Stir all ingredients together, pour into molds, cool in refrigerator, transfer to freezer and freeze 4-6 hours.  

Vanilla syrup

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2-3 t vanilla extract or paste

Bring first three ingredients to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes or until syrup thickens.  Remove from heat, add vanilla.  

Season for Collaboration

My passion for making paletas has mostly been a solo business.  I daydream, shop and concoct on my own.  My walking partner, unable to escape my persistant paletas prattle as we trudge four miles daily, has frozen a few for herself.  But for long hours and days, I collaborate in Cindy's Cozy Kitchen with three people: me, myself and I.

The autonomy is appealing.  No one directs my time or dictates the flavor of the day.  I can do as I please, but a question lingers.  Appreciating that artistry is limitless, I ponder if I can be truly inventive without the input of others?  Then, my teenage godchildren stop by.

One would think a teenage boy would primarily have partaking of paletas in mind.  After tasting three treats, Ben requested we make a batch together.   Confident in his choices, we boldly exchanged ideas as we made preparations.  With laughter and splatters abounding, strawberry peach blackberry paletas debuted that day.  Cindy's Cozy Kitchen was transformed into a sensation of creation!

In this season, there has been need for hours alone, sorting thoughts and soothing my emotions.  I could simply keep to myself out of anger and fear of continued hurt.  But in that choice, I become fixed and frozen, like my favorite treats.  So, I open my heart as I open my kitchen, knowing that there will be messes to clean and boil-overs on the stove top.  Experiencing grace in the presence of others, I realize the sweetest taste sensations come with collaboration.

Hibiscus Raspberry Paletas How-To

Recipe adapted from Paletas by Fany Gerson

paletas de jamaica con frambuesa  

My favored herbal drink for many years has been Red Zinger tea.  When I found this recipe using the same base, hibiscus flowers, I knew it was a must try!  This is not a simple paleta, but I believe it is worth the effort.  For your encouragement, I've illustrated the steps taking you from mere dried sticks of flowers to ruby red refreshment.

Agua de jamica is the base using:

1 cup dried hibiscus flowers 

4 cups water

1/3 cup sugar or more to taste

Rinse the flowers in cold water and drain thoroughly.  

Cover flowers in cold water and allow to soak 4 hours or as long as overnight.  

After steeping, bring mixture to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add sugar and simmer only until sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.  

Strain mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a pitcher, pressing with a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible.

Add water to make 4 cups of liquid and refrigerate until completely chilled, or go on to next step if making paletas immediately.  

To complete the paletas you will need:

2 cups agua de jamaica (recipe above)

2/3 cup sugar

4 cups fresh raspberries

Rinse raspberries, add 1/3 cup of sugar and let sit until raspberries release their juices, about half an hour.

Combine the 2 cups of agua de jamaica with the remaining 1/3 cup sugar.  Simmer over medium heat until sugar dissolves.  Cool in refrigerator.  

Divide raspberries evenly in molds.  

Pour agua de jamaica in molds.  Freeze until set 4-6 hours.  

Find a warm patio with a cool breeze and revel in refreshment!