How To Make Popsicles That Are Perfectly Creamy, Not Icy
Making homemade popsicles is a great way to enjoy a sweet, frozen treat during the hot summer. And they're easy to customize by adding all your preferred flavors and ingredients into one popsicle mold. You can even try to recreate some of your store-bought favorites, like red, white, and blue firecracker ice pops, which mimic Bomb Pops.
When making a cream-based frozen treat — like orange creamsicles or chocolatey fudgesicles — you may be disappointed to find an icy texture after your treats have frozen, rather than a completely smooth and creamy one. Fortunately, there's an easy way to prevent this unwanted outcome by using an unexpected ingredient: cornstarch.
When you're creating the mixture for your popsicles, you can add a few teaspoons of cornstarch. Blend it with the rest of your ingredients, then pour the liquid into the popsicle molds as usual. The exact amounts of cornstarch needed will vary based on how much liquid you're using — just make sure it all blends smoothly.
How does the cornstarch help?
The added cornstarch prevents the popsicles from developing unwanted ice chunks and instead allows them to maintain a smooth consistency. In a study published by the Journal of Dairy Scientists, experiments showed that cornstarch could stabilize the other ingredients in the mixes, preventing the formation of ice crystals. The liquid ingredients will freeze right where they are in the mix instead of moving together to form chunks of ice.
The balance of combining dairy-based liquids and water-based ones can be a little tricky. While blending ice into a milkshake is perfectly acceptable, adding ice cubes to a glass of milk is generally frowned upon and can change the taste of the drink. If you include yogurt, milk, or heavy cream in your homemade popsicles, adding a little cornstarch to the mix might be precisely what you need to keep the consistency just right.
It makes other desserts creamier, too
This trick doesn't just apply to your homemade cream-based popsicles. Cornstarch is a great way to add extra creaminess to your homemade ice cream, sorbet, or gelato. Some commercial ice cream brands include cornstarch in their products, ensuring every pint you pull out of the freezer will feel just as smooth as when it was packed.
In his book "The Perfect Scoop," Chef David Lebovitz suggests thickening gelato by using starch instead of the standard egg yolks. The style has even been called "Sicilian-style gelato" since the method is commonly used in the region — and it reportedly tastes even better than its yolky counterpart during the summertime.
The next time you prep some sweet frozen treats, try adding a little cornstarch to the mix — you may be surprised at how much creamier your popsicles are when you pull them out of the freezer.