Roasted Balsamic Strawberries with Mascarpone Cream Pop

Aja and Bianca of Liana Raine are back again today with a sophisticated take on a classic flavour combo - strawberries and cream.  Just another reminder that practically any fruit dessert you love can be transformed into a frozen fruit popsicle - all you need is a set of icy-pole molds, a little patience and a good helping of sugar syrup!

Roasted Balsamic Strawberries with Mascarpone Cream Pop recipe by Liana Raine.  Photo – Phu Tang.  Styling – Gemma Lush.

This pop is a perfect example of how much fun you can have dreaming up popsicle recipe ideas. Practically any fruit dessert you have made can be transformed into the frozen form! This is a sophisticated twist our ever popular Strawberries and Cream. Fresh strawberries are roasted in balsamic glaze (wait to smell the house when these beauties are in the oven), which creates this jammy-like flavour with a subtle sour tang.  Pair with indulgent rich mascarpone cheese - it is Christmas after all - and this is a pop to savour slowly.

Roasted balsamic strawberries by Liana Raine.  Photo – Phu Tang.  Styling – Gemma Lush.

Ingredients

(This recipe assumes you will use a domestic pop mold with 10 individual molds at 85ml each). 280g strawberries 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 360ml sugar syrup 80g mascarpone cheese 40g cream Preheat the oven to 100 C Take the tops off the strawberries and place in a small roasting dish. Pour over the balsamic vinegar and toss the strawberries well so they are coated with the vinegar. Place in oven and roast for 1hr or until very soft and tender. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Once cool, put strawberries and any roasting juices, plus 280ml of the sugar syrup and 1 tbsp of water into a blender and puree until smooth. Combine the mascarpone, cream and remaining sugar syrup until well combined and smooth. Pour about a tablespoon into each mold and place into freezer. To achieve the diagonal stripe, put the molds into the freezer on an angle, maybe propped up with some peas or other items in your freezer. Once the mascarpone tip is frozen, pour in the strawberry mixture to the top of the mold. Insert stick and freeze overnight or until rock solid. To remove the pops, quickly immerse the molds into a bowl of warm water to help release.

*Sugar syrup

For all our popsicle recipes this month, please refer to the simple sugar syrup recipe below. Boil 1 cup of raw sugar in 2 cups of water until the sugar dissolves, and leave to cool. This will make more than you need for any one recipe - store additional syrup in the fridge for your next popsicle-making session! Liana Raine pops can be found at various stockists across Sydney, and their sweet little pop cart can be found everyday over summer at The Sydney Opera House!  They also cater weddings and events - for more info visit the Liana Raine website.

Mmmmmmmascarpone!  Photo – Phu Tang.  Styling – Gemma Lush.