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roast and toast

Happy Memorial Day! I hope you and your loved ones are spending a relaxing and reflective weekend together.

Aw, finally! The day has arrived, I am posting the last recipe from my Friday the 13th Dinner Party. I’m just happy I was able to squeak it in before the first of June! The lucky element in this final recipe is the coconut.

coconuts

The tradition/superstition is that eating any round fruit on New Year’s brings luck and good fortune. In the Philippines, 13 is considered a lucky number so the custom calls for eating 13 round fruits. Whereas, in Europe and the States, we eat 12, which represents the months in a year. In both cases, their coin-like shape and their sweetness are what bring luck.

12 grapes

This is similar to the earlier mentioned belief that when you eat 12 grapes at midnight of New Year, it will bring you wealth and more luck for the next 12 months of the coming year.

A few pointers before we get to the recipe:

hull strawberries

To hull the strawberries, you can use a paring knife, a strawberry huller (similar to little tweezers), or a straw. I’m all about the straw method. It’s quick and fun.

ice pop molds

I bought the mold for the ice pops HERE on Amazon.

freezer fix

The sticks tend to float up when the molds are filled. I fixed that by placing the empty box the mold came in on top while the pops were in the freezer. Problem solved.

parchment

To store the frozen pops; lay down or stand up in a tight-sealing container with pieces of parchment paper in-between each pop.

roasted strawberry toasted coconut cream pop

Roasted Strawberry & Toasted Coconut Cream Pops

  • 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
  • 1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 4 tablespoons sugar, divided
  • Juice of 1 lime, divided
  • 15-ounce can of whole-fat or nonfat coconut milk, well shaken
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place a rack in the upper third of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the coconut onto a rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven until golden brown. Keep a close eye on it. It goes from perfectly fine to burnt before you know it!

toasted perfectly

Also, it tends to cook faster in the corners and around the outside rim of the pan, stir that back into the center and return to the oven until evenly toasted.

Remove the toasted coconut from the oven and immediately transfer it to a plate to cool. Wipe down the baking sheet and line with parchment or a Silpat mat.

roasted and toasted

Place strawberries on the prepared baking sheet, and drizzle with olive oil. Place in the oven to roast until fragrant and soft, about 18 to 20 minutes.

roasted strawberries

Remove the strawberries from the oven.

puree berries

Pour the roasted strawberries and any liquids that accumulated on the baking sheet into the bowl of a food processor.

process berries

Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and the juice of half of the lime. Blend until smooth.

coconut mixture

In a medium bowl whisk together coconut milk, the remaining lime juice, the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar, and vanilla.

(By the way, if you’re wondering why there are two cans of coconut milk pictured above when the recipe only calls for 1 can … I doubled the recipe)

add toasted coconut

Stir all but 2 tablespoons of the toasted coconut into the milk mixture, and set aside the 2 tablespoons for garnish.

strawberry layer

Dollop a spoonful of the strawberry puree into the bottom of each ice pop mold.

coconut and strawberry layers

Start with just 10 molds in case you do not have enough to fill 12 molds. Whisk the coconut milk mixture and add to the ice pop molds, filling each 2/3 high.

top toasted coconut

Spoon more strawberry puree into each mold, and top with the remaining milk mix and a sprinkle of toasted coconut.

put a lid on it

Top the ice pop molds with their lids, and place sticks inside. Freeze for at least 6 hours.

remove lid

Remove lid and dip the mold into a sink of hot tap water to loosen the pops.

store in freezer

Makes 10 to 12 cream pops


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1 comment

1 Tram Mai { 05.31.16 at 9:24 AM }

First time I had homemade cream pops! So fresh and delicious! Loved it!!! 🙂

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