Boozy Strawberry Blueberry Cheesecake Popsicles and the Pursuit of Happiness

Is there any better way to celebrate the birth of our great nation than with these red, white, and sort of blue popsicles? Before you answer, I should mention they’re actually strawberry and blueberry cheesecake ice pops, and also spiked with booze.

Like much of our country, these are very simple, and get a little more interesting when you add a few shots of alcohol. I used vodka for its neutral flavor, but my scientist friends tell me any liquor will work just the same. However, be sure to measure carefully, since too much or too little alcohol and/or sugar syrup will adversely affect the frozen texture.

I didn’t want anything too icy, and it’s the alcohol and sugar that keeps this from freezing rock solid. If you leave out the booze, you’ll get a firmer ice pop, so you’ve been warned. I’m not sure how to adjust to compensate, so you may want to grab a regular fruit ice pop recipe on Allrecipes.com and use it instead.

I joked about our Founding Fathers being proud of this particular pursuit of happiness, but the more I think about it, I bet they would have been; especially that Ben Franklin guy. Dude liked to party. So, whether you make these on the 4th of July, or not, I really hope you give them a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 6 Boozy Strawberry Blueberry Cheesecake Popsicles:

For the simple syrup:

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

(This makes extra. Use it for lemonade and ice tea)

For the strawberry layer:

1 1/3 cup trimmed and quartered strawberries

1 1/2 tablespoon simple syrup

1 1/2 tablespoon vodka

For the cheesecake layer:

4 ounces (1/2 cup) room temp cream cheese

1 1/2 tablespoon simple syrup

1 tbsp vodka

For the blueberry layer:

1 1/3 cup trimmed and quartered blueberries

1 1/2 tablespoon simple syrup

1 1/2 tablespoon vodka

Next Up: Red, White & Booze

Pickle Brine Chicken – I Need to Give You Props

The chicken breasts seen herein started off as nothing more than a couple of props for our recently posted “How to Make a Brick Grill” video, but they came out so well, I decided to show you what I think is a pretty neat trick.

And let’s face it; there aren’t a lot of great uses for leftover pickle juice. I did hear recently that some people like to drink this stuff after jogging, which I found to be quite shocking, since I had no idea people still jogged.  

As you’ll see, I only let mine brine for about 2 hours which seemed to be enough. I’ve heard that you really only need about one hour per inch thickness of meat, and that rule of thumb seems to work for me. These breasts were tender, juicy, and flavorful.

Speaking of flavor, you can probably just go with the straight pickle juice as a brine, but I hedged my bets with a little extra salt, sugar, and pepper. Like most brined recipes, the payoff is in the texture and moisture content, and not necessarily in the taste, but having said that, these did have a nice little twang.

So, the next time you have nothing left in the pickle jar but the juice, you now know what to do, and I don’t mean take up jogging. I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 2 breasts:

2 large boneless skinless chicken breast

olive oil to coat

salt and pepper to taste

For the brine:

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

pinch of cayenne

1 1/2 to 2 cups dill pickle juice

Blackberry Almond Buckle – You May Want to Loosen Your Belt

First things first; this type of rustic dessert is called a buckle because of how the fruit sinks into the buttery batter as it bakes, and “buckles” the surface with its juicy weight. 

I believe you’ll find my completely made-up explanation in the video a little more interesting, but regardless of the etymology, this blackberry buckle is no joke.

I added a handful of almond meal, since I had it around, and I think almonds and blackberries have a thing for one another. It seemed to work out nicely, although it did make things a little denser; which in this kind of thing isn’t necessarily a bad thing. 

Same goes for the toasted nuts on top. Leave them off it you want, but I liked the crunch. I was going to tell you to use any berry you want, but I changed my mind. This really needs to be done with blackberries. Raspberries are a little too delicate; as are strawberries, and blueberries are barely berries to begin with. For me, it’s blackberries or bust. I really hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 8 Portions Blackberry Buckle

3 cups fresh blackberries

2 tbsp white sugar if your berries are sweet, 3 if they need some help

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the batter:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup almond meal

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

pinch of cinnamon

1 cup milk

8 x 12 baking dish with 6 tbsp hot melted butter poured in.

- Bake at 350 degrees F. for about 1 hour