The Snoopy Snow Cone Machine is the most beloved food-related toy of my generation. I can say so with authority, as I was the proud owner of this craptacular tower of plastic, as well as an Easy Bake Oven and the understandably less well known Buzzy the Cookie Cutter, which was basically a bear-shaped buzzsaw upon which a (supervised) child placed and shaped a graham cracker, which you could then decorate with edible gel. Fun. Thanks to Hasbro and their never-mentioned Twinkie Lathe my older cousin still can’t play a full game of cat’s cradle. Although in retrospect, the equipment was cheap and shoddy, nothing impressed a too cool for you friend named Jessica or Stacie like busting out the SSCM with its little red shovel and fez-wearing, flavor-squirting Snoopy perched atop the house.

I’m still trying to win friends and influence people with my stuff. Which is why today I am writing about Zoku, The Quick Pop™ Maker. I am not being coerced or compensated in any way for this review. So far, we have been completely delighted with the results. You pop the base in the freezer for twenty-four hours, remove, pour in your liquid and a popsicle happens right before your eyes, within minutes! It’s like magic. Or science. Whichever. The Zoku is ideal for the impatient of all ages on a hot summer day. I experimented with a few different recipes before settling on these two to share today. The combining flavors in one pop trick requires a little finesse, but I’m sure with more practice I will be creating frozen masterpieces rivaling the color blocking stylings of Mark Rothko. Here’s how I made popsicles:

Simple Syrup: one part water to one part sugar, dissolved in boiling water on the stove. (Other recipes call for too much sugar, in my opnion)

Lemonade

Combine:

• 4 cups water
• the juice of 6 lemons
• 1 cup simple syrup

Strawberry Juice

In a food processor, whiz up:

• 2 cups hulled, roughly chopped strawberries
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup simple syrup (recipe above)

Banana Cream

Blend:

• 1 banana
• 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 cup milk

The results were good, overall. I made two combo-pops on my go. The strawberry juice was quite sweet, but complemented the tart lemonade and, I don’t want to say bland, but gently-flavored banana cream pop. I can’t wait to see what’s next at the farmer’s market and welcome your suggestions for your favorite popsicle recipes. I recommend Zoku, as the newest, coolest, cutest method of making a summertime staple. It’s the wave of the future, and you saw it here first (probably not)!