Cooking with Toddlers: Elderberry, Mint, and Fig Popsicles

I had a crazy pregnant lady moment the other day when I consumed the entire batch of homemade strawberry popsicles I had made for Fig at 11 PM while watching ( oh god, I hate to even admit it) Keeping up with the Kardashians. How this happened, I don’t even know. I just awoke from a kardashian induced haze with strawberry popsicle residue all over my shirt. I felt dirty.

Even worse, the next day when Fig asked for his after lunch poppycle I had to explain the ugly truth; that mama had eaten them at point blank.  I assured him that right after nap time, we’d get busy making a new batch. And so we did and decided that Elderberry, Mint, and Fig would be our creation of choice.

Popsicle making is a great activity (albeit messy) for toddlers and the highlight for Fig ( aside from eating the smoothie mixture while ladeling it into the popsicle mold) was putting the sticks into the mold. In fact, that activity alone is something we might save for a rainy day activity since it kept him occupied for a quite a while.

Even worse, these popsicles require more self control on my part than the strawberry ones. I might need to invest in a second popsicle mold since clearly Fig isn’t the only popsicle connoisseur in our household!

 Elderberry, Mint, and Fig Popsicles:

• 1/2 a cup of dried elderberries
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 4 dried cloves
• 6 large figs
• Chopped mint to taste ( we about 20 sprigs)

1) In a large pot, boil three cups of water, the elderberries,cinnamon sticks and cloves..Once boiling, turn the stove off and let sit for 30 minutes.

2) After elderberries have cooled, strain out the cinnamon, cloves and berries.

3) Combined the infused elderberry water, figs, and mint in a blender. Pulse into fully blended and pour the mixture into popsicle molds.

4) Enjoy once frozen!

Too delicious to resist!