What do you do when you have blackberries growing in every nook and cranny outside, hanging all juicy and luscious from the bushes?
You make blackberry honey yogurt pops, of course. These are incredibly easy to make, although a little messy. Extracting the juice from the berries took a little doing, and I don't mind saying that I got a little aggressive about it. The results are the best yogurt pops I've ever made, and I daresay that they are better than anything you can buy.
Adapted from Bon Appetit August 2010
2/3 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
3 1/2- 3 3/4 cups of blackberries (three 6 oz containers)
1 cup plain non fat yogurt (I used organic 6%, it was all I had)
5 tsp honey
4 tsp fresh lemon juice
The recipe doesn't say this originally, but I think the best way to get juice out of blackberries is to freeze them. Put them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and freeze them solid. Then take them out, thaw, run through the food processor to make a pulp, and drain in a strainer lined with cheesecloth. I actually picked up the cheesecloth and squeezed it, forcing all the juice to come out, but that's really messy and you come away looking like you've murdered someone. Also, blackberry juice doesn't come out easily, if at all, so be careful!
In the end you need 2 cups of blackberry juice/puree. Toss the leftover bits of blackberry.
Measure the water and sugar into a pot and set over medium heat. Bring it to a boil, stirring, until the sugar melts. Let cool and put into the fridge until nice and cold (about an hour)
In a large bowl, whisk together your blackberry puree, cold simple syrup, honey, lemon juice, and yogurt. Pour into molds and top with a stick, then freeze until solid (overnight is good).
Makes 10
*a note about when you eat these...blackberry juice is virtually impossible to get out of clothes/carpet. If you give them to your kids make sure they are outside or at least in something you don't mind getting stained.
