Mojito Ice Pops or Popsicles

To begin, you will need to make the mint simple syrup if you decide you want to add that extra layer of flavor. You should make this the day before or early in the day so it has a chance to cool down before you make your ice pops.

To make a simple syrup, place the water and sugar into a small pan and heat on medium until the sugar is dissolved. Every few minutes carefully swirl the pot so the sugar and water mix together.

It takes about 5 to 10 minutes for the sugar to dissolve completely, depending on the temperature of your stove. Once the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat off and remove the pot from the hot burner. Add 2 or 3 large sprigs of mint to the pot and swirl it again so the mint is covered by the syrup. Leave the mint in the pot until the syrup cools. Once it is cool, remove the mint and pour through a mini mesh strainer to remove any bits of the mint that may have settled to the bottom of the pot.

Store your mint simple syrup in a glass container in the fridge. It will last 2 to 3 weeks.

For the popsicles, zest one lime and chop fine. Chop the mint leaves fine. Add the lime zest and chopped mint leaves to a spouted bowl.

Juice the limes and add all of the liquid ingredients to the bowl. If you’re not using the sugarcane juice, add a teaspoon of sugar and taste. Make adjustments for sweetness.

You can use real rum if you’d like but I don’t drink, so I am not sure how much rum you would use and how it might affect the freezing of the pops.

You’ll have to experiment. You could start with the 2 teaspoons and then taste it. If you overdo it with the liquor and the pops don’t freeze all the way, you could always just dump it in a bowl and mix it up like you would a granita. I’m sure it would probably taste excellent that way also.

Mix everything together and pour into ice pop molds. Put the ice pop handles on and put in the freezer.

Freeze for one hour. Pull the handles out of the semi frozen ice pop and using a chop stick or skewer, gently mix from the bottom so the lime zest and mint leaves that have sunk to the bottom of the mold are evenly distributed. Put the handles back in and freeze completely.