Having Fun with My New Zoku Quick Pop Maker!

When I attended the Travel Blog Exchange (TBEX) conference in Vancouver last June, attendees received admission to EAT! Vancouver, a consumer foodie show also taking place at the convention center.

It's there I was introduced to the Zoku Quick Pop Maker - a quick and relatively easy way to make gourmet frozen treats on sticks. The gals giving the demonstrations made it look so easy.


Zoku Quick Pop Maker - So Simple

All they did was pour juice into the little box and within minutes, frozen treats popped out. I thought it'd be fun to own one and experiment with my own concoctions, until I saw the price tag, just under $50.

Over the weekend I headed up to Sarasota to use a Sur La Table gift card. Having NEVER shopped the store, I had no idea what I wanted until (insert angels singing) I glanced over to a corner and saw the Zoku on display.

I'm the Kid

It's something I wouldn't purchase on my own and really, it's not very practical but it's loads of fun! The clerk asked if I had kids because "kids just love it."

"No," I told her and quickly added I would have to try it with my niece and nephew. I said this because I was embarrassed to admit this was for my own personal enjoyment - and any of my visitors. I also rationed I'd make healthier desserts.

Strawberry Lemonade with Hint of Basil Pop

My first (and only) experiment has been making strawberry lemonade pops with a hint of basil. Basically, you freeze the unit at least for 24 hours, then when ready, make your mixture (there's a Zoku Quick Pops recipe book available for purchase, too, which I picked up), place the special sticks in the unit, pour and wait. After about 5 minutes, my pops were ready. Use the handy dandy orange screw thing to pull out the sticks then place the drip cups on and enjoy.

Zoku makes three frozen pops at a time and since I won't (admittedly) eat three pops in a sitting, I placed the other two in the freezer. Of course, there's a special freezer container to store the pops, along with a host of other accessories. Well, this will make Christmas gift buying for me easy.

I tried to make a second batch by adding limoncello but they didn't freeze. Either the unit wasn't cold enough or I had too much alcohol in the mixture.

Simply, my new Zoku is fun and I'm looking forward to trying some of the recipes in the book and inventing my own flavors. I don't have exact measurements but this is what I did for the strawberry lemonade with a hint of basil:

Mashed four strawberries with four sliced basil leaves and about 1 Tablespoon of lemonade.
Poured it all into a measuring cup and added more lemonade to equal 3/4 cup.

That's it! The photo at the top of this post is my creation.

Have ya tried the Zoku yet? What's your favorite recipe?

Sur La Table in Sarasota is located at 22 N. Lemon Ave. Tel: (941) 365-0380

And don't forget to check out SoloTravelGirl.com to see what else I've been up to!