Yesterday I woke up thinking it was Saturday. It wasn’t. It was Friday.
But, honest to goodness, I woke up and went into a mild panic as I thought I had missed the chance to create the Strawberry Dragon Fruit popsicles I was planning and participate in Popsicle Week! For the past two years, Wit and Vinegar has been hosting #popsicleweek and it’s a great place to find all sorts of inventive ice pops…especially now that the heat of summer is kicking in.
Had yesterday had in fact been Saturday, I wouldn’t have time to purchase the molds and fruit, make the mixtures, freeze the pops, photograph the pops, write this blog post, and share it! So, for the first – and perhaps last – time ever, I was happy it wasn’t yet the weekend.
I’m making two popsicle treats this weekend: Strawberry Dragon Fruit Popsicles and Cherry Vanilla Popsicles. I’ve always been intrigued by dragon fruit. How can you not be? It has a sweet tart tastes similar to kiwi and it looks so rad with its pink outer covering and brilliant dragonlike green scales. Why the scales? Because pitaya (another name for dragon fruit) is a member of the cactus family!
How to tell the difference between red and white dragon fruit
The inner part of the Dragon fruit is red or white and if you want a certain look for your dish, it’s important to pick the right one. Both look neat, but if you’re going for bright white stars, hearts, or cubes of dragon fruit, you might be bummed to cut open the fruit and find red flesh inside. And, if you want that fuchsia color for a smoothie bowl or these popsicles, you want to make sure you’re getting the red one.
But, how can you do that when both the red and white varieties look pretty similar? Since the folks at your market or grocery aren’t likely to be too happy about you cutting one open to tell, here’s how. It’s (pretty) easy! Red dragon fruit is mostly round and white dragon fruit is more oval in shape. I’ve always found that the red/pink dragon fruit has much more flavor – the white one is pretty, but too bland for my taste.
How to Make Strawberry Dragon Fruit Popsicles
Slice the dragon fruit in half and scoop out the inside. You can scoop it directly into your blender or food processor. I found using the pulse button helped to get things moving. Add one banana, a tablespoon of honey, 1/2 cup of strawberries, and 1/4 cup of coconut milk or Greek yogurt. Blend. until smooth. Pour 1/3 of the mixture into your popsicle molds, add the popsicle sticks, and pop the molds into your freezer. Pour the rest of the mixture into a bowl and place the bowl in the fridge.
Then, mix together 1 banana, 1 tablespoon of honey, 1/4 cup of coconut milk or Greek yogurt, and 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract in your blender or food processor. Pour this mixture into a bowl and place it in your fridge.
Once the popsicles have frozen enough to stand the sticks up on their own, add the banana mixture on top. Put them back in the freezer for 30 minutes. Then, add the second dragon fruit layer and let the popsicles freeze fully (about 8 hours).
To remove the popsicles from the molds, just run them under hot water for a few seconds. Enjoy!
Strawberry Dragon Fruit Popsicles
Print Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 dragon fruit
- ½ cup strawberries
- 2 bananas
- 2 Tbsp. honey (divided (or maple syrup))
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt ((or coconut milk))
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
- Add dragon fruit, strawberries, 1 banana, 1 Tbsp. honey, and 1/4 cup Greek yogurt to blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.
- Fill popsicles molds 1/3 of the way with dragon fruit mixture. Insert popsicle sticks and place the molds in freezer.
- Pour the rest of the dragon fruit mixture into a bowl. Place bowl in fridge.
- Add 1 banana, 1 Tbsp. honey, 1/4 cup Greek yogurt, and vanilla extract to blender or food processor. Pour the banana mixture into a bowl. Place bowl in fridge.
- After 45 minutes, add banana mixture to popsicle molds. Place molds back in freezer for 30 minutes.
- Add the remaining dragon fruit mixture to popsicle molds. Let the popsicles freeze fully (approx 5 hours).
- Remove the popsicles from molds by running molds under hot water for a few seconds.
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These are really colorful and bright. The kids will love them. I love that you don’t add any sugar so we can give the kiddos a little of what they like and keep out what we don’t like.
See, if I make these I would be the mean mama and eat them all (none for the kids) as they are right up my street. 🙂
I love dragon fruit and these popsicle are pure perfection!
These look sensational. Thanks for the tip about dragon fruit. I’ve only had white and didn’t know there was fuscia!
These are absolutely gorgeous! I’ve never tried dragon fruit, but must! Great tip on how to tell the difference, too – thanks!