Ice lollies: (1) mango; (2) acai

I got some ice lolly molds in my little lifts box when I was sick. 2 years later, s is into ice cream and I thought it might be fun to try them. We started with (1) mango lassi, a recipe from the box. And then (2) popped into my head - I'd bought acai powder a while back thinking we could make acai bowls, which has not yet happened... I thought ice lollies could be like little bitesize premade acai bowls (the molds are quite small)?

 Option 1:

 2 ripe mangoes, peeled, de-stoned and cut into chunks (defrosted if using frozen)

1 banana, peeled and cut into chunks

1 cup skyr

Blend mango and banana together til smooth. Mix in skyr. Freeze in lolly molds.

 

Option 2:

1 banana, peeled and cut into chunks

3/4 cup blueberries (defrosted if using frozen) 

3/4 cup skyr

c. 3 tbsp acai powder

1-2 tbsp almond meal

Blend all together, pour into lolly molds, freeze.

These are ace! s loves them, we can share them with his friend who doesn't eat sugar in the garden. And I don't feel guilty about letting s eat multiple ice lollies in a day, as they are (a) rather small, and (b) full of nothing but fruit and yoghurt! And they are so quick and easy to make, with no cooking - great for summer. Many more variations to come!

Raspberry coconut rhino biscuits

An idea from little s. I more-or-less used this recipe, except I switched out a little bit (75 g?) of flour for desiccated coconut. And didn't have quite enough freeze dried raspberries so used a little acai powder as well. s helped me make them - he cut out almost all the shapes! And we used almost all the different biscuit cutters we have - rhinos were a favourite, but also moose, bear, squirrel, snail, pterodactyl, t-rex, stegosaurus, triceratops, flower, heart, egg, dinosaur footprint, stars... 

(makes quite a lot - maybe 30 biscuits of various sizes and shapes)

15 g / 1/2 oz freeze-dried raspberries (used about 12 g rasps plus 3 g acai powder)

114 g / 4 oz sugar

227 g / 8 oz butter at room temperature

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp vanilla powder

1 egg at room temperature

340 g / 12 oz plain flour (subbed c. 75 g for desiccated coconut)

Crush raspberries a little - not to a powder, just until they are broken down to individual drupelets and a wee bit powdery - I used a pestle and mortar. Line two baking sheets with baking paper.

Beat butter, sugar and salt together in a large bowl until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add flour, beat until mixed. Add raspberries and mix until just mixed.

Split the mix into two balls. Roll out the first on a lightly floured surface until 1/4 inch thick. Cut out shapes and put them on prepared baking sheets. Chill on the sheets for 20 min.

In the meantime, heat the oven to 150 C (300 F). Bake for 20-30 min - until the edges start to turn golden. Take out and let cool for 5 min before transferring to a cooling rack.

 

These are good! Buttery and raspberry-y. Hold their shape really well, without being tough. It is quite a lot though, and you can't halve the recipe without halving an egg... If making again, I might try increasing the proportion of coconut. Could also be good with all acai - or matcha powder.