Lemon Ice Pops

HAPPY OPENING to HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS part 2!!!!!!!
I'm cooking up a feast of delicious Harry Potter foods today, but those recipes won't appear here until they come up in the books. But I hope everyone is having a glorious Harry Potter-y Day and looking forward to watching the final film at midnight!! But for now--

The next delicious delicacy found in Harry Potter is Chocolate Ice Cream. But my Ice Cream Maker is in storage... so in an attempt to keep things moving, we shall come back to ice cream later and move straight on to Lemon Ice Pops, which are found a mere twenty-eight words after ice cream:

"The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop" (Sorcerer's Stone 26).

This recipe reminds me of summer days as a little kid when my friends and I would freeze every possible juice combination we could think of in paper cups to make homemade popsicles. We even tried soda pop once-- I don't recommend it. Dinah Bulcholz' recipe for Triple Power Icy Lemon Pops on page 5 of The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook is super simple, and packs a delicious lemony flavor. 

You Will Need:

Grated zest of 1 lemon

3 Tbs Lemon Juice (1 lemon should contain more than enough)

7 Tbs granulated sugar

1 3/4 Cups Water

1/2 tsp Lemon extract

You also need something to freeze the pops in! If you're fancy, you can use popsicle molds, or you can go the old-school way like me and use paper or plastic cups with craft sticks :)

1. Use a cheese grater or a zester (fancy-schmancy!) to peel the zest from your lemon.

2. Squeeze the juice from your lemon into a cup (my lemon yielded almost 5Tbs, so you should have plenty of juice)

3. Combine the lemon zest, juice, sugar, and water in a small saucepan and heat on the stove, stirring occasionally, until it is just beginning to simmer.

4. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lemon extract.

5. Pour the mixture into your chosen popsicle molds and place in the freezer until solid, probably about 5 hours.

Remove from the freezer and enjoy!!