Last week’s Gastropost mission was to recreate or revisit a food experience that will refresh sunny memories of summers past. I thought a lot about my summers as a kid: basically just unstructured days of riding bikes, swimming, and playing with the gang of kids on my street. And popsicles. Lots of popsicles. This is what I had to say:

When I was a tot growing up in the 80s, my go-to summer treats were popsicles and freezies. We always had one of those huge boxes of pink, purple, and orange popsicles in the freezer. My brothers and I would hold the packages up to the light to make sure we got the kind we wanted (I think the packages are clear now to avoid any potential disputes between siblings). These ones are Peaches & Cream Pops from bon appetit magazine; sort of a mash-up of previous missions (See #7: Frozen, #8: Peaches). Delicious!

Here’s the recipe!

Peaches & Cream Vanilla Bean Popsicles

Source: Bon Appetit, June 2011

Yield: 4-5 pops, it will depend on your popsicle molds (this is a half batch and I got 4)

Ingredients

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 vanilla bean

2 cups sliced, peeled peaches (this was 5 peaches for me)

1/4 cup whipping cream

2 tbsp greek yogurt (plain or vanilla)

Directions

  1. In a small saucepan, add the sugar and water. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, and add them to the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.Let cool for a little while.
  2. In a blender or food processor (I used a bowl and my immersion blender), add the peaches and vanilla bean syrup, and puree until smooth. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a large measuring cup with a spout. Whisk in the cream and yogurt until combined. 
  3. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze until firm.