Fruit ice lolly for kids, no added sugar

Four ingredients, no added sugar and the taste of a mango and banana smoothie on a stick.

A lolly made from fruit and water alone tends to be as hard as an ice cube — fruit has little in the way of solids, and its own sugars are not enough. This recipe solves that without reaching for the sugar bowl: overripe bananas and dates bring concentrated sugars and fibre, mango brings flesh and a little sucrose, and milk brings milk solids that bind water. The result is soft, biteable and sweetened by fruit only.

Type: Sherbet · Servings: 10 · Difficulty: Easy

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 300 g overripe banana (brown-speckled, peeled) (3 bananas with brown spots)
  • 300 g mango (flesh) (flesh of 1–2 ripe mangoes, or frozen chunks)
  • 190 g dates (Medjool, pitted) (11–12 Medjool dates, pitted)
  • 240 g whole milk 3.5 %
  • 10 g lemon juice (fresh)

Making the mix

  1. If the dates are dry and hard, cover them with hot water, let them swell for ten minutes and drain them well.
  2. Blend the bananas, mango, dates, milk and lemon juice for at least a minute, until completely smooth. The bits of date must disappear, otherwise they crunch in the lolly.
  3. Taste it. Very ripe fruit is sweet enough on its own; less ripe fruit needs two or three more dates.
  4. Chill the mix in the fridge for half an hour.

Method — No-machine method

  1. Fill the moulds about four fifths full — the mix expands slightly as it freezes and would otherwise seep out around the lid.
  2. If your mould has no lid with stick holders, put it in the freezer first and insert the sticks after 60–90 minutes, when the mix is firm at the sides and slushy in the middle. At that point the stick stands upright and will not float.
  3. Freeze for at least 6 hours, ideally overnight. The lolly must be hard all the way through.
  4. Dip the mould up to its rim in lukewarm (not hot) water for five to ten seconds and pull the lolly out slowly and straight by the stick. If it resists, dip it for a few more seconds — pulling sideways tears the stick out.

Nothing stirs inside the mould: the mix freezes at rest and the ice crystals end up larger than in a machine. A cold mix (5 °C or below) and the coldest spot in the freezer help — the faster the lolly freezes, the smoother it will be.

Total time: 6 h 55 min

Method — Compressor ice cream maker

  1. Switch the ice cream maker on 5–10 minutes ahead so the bowl can pre-chill.
  2. Pour in the chilled mix and churn for 15–25 minutes — only to the consistency of thick soft-serve, not hard.
  3. Transfer the soft ice cream to a piping bag and pipe it into the moulds. Tap the mould on the worktop a few times to release air bubbles and level the surface.
  4. Push in the sticks (the mix already holds them) and leave to harden in the freezer for 2 hours. Dip the mould up to its rim in lukewarm (not hot) water for five to ten seconds and pull the lolly out slowly and straight by the stick. If it resists, dip it for a few more seconds — pulling sideways tears the stick out.

This gives the smoothest lolly you can make at home: the machine creates many tiny crystals at once and the mould only hardens them. Pipe the ice cream straight away — after a few minutes on the worktop it stiffens and will not fill the mould without holes.

Total time: 3 h 15 min

Stages

Preparation
15 min
Resting
10 min
Cooling
30 min
Freezing
6 h
Total time
6 h 55 min

Plan: what to do and when

The whole recipe takes 6 h 55 min, of which 25 min is hands-on — the rest is waiting you can spend elsewhere.

The making itself fits into a single day — start at least 6 h 55 min before serving.

  • Prepare the mix (weigh and stir the ingredients) — 15 min
  • Cool the mix down — 30 min
  • Put the mix in the freezer — 6 h
  • Let it soften before serving — 10 min

Serving and storage

A lolly on a stick is not suitable for very young children without supervision — the stick is hard and the whole lolly can break off at once. For smaller children, freeze the mix in small cups and serve it with a spoon.

Wrap the unmoulded lollies individually in baking paper or small bags and keep them in a closed container at the back of the freezer. They are best within two weeks; after that they turn coarse even when wrapped and start picking up freezer smells. Do not refreeze a lolly that has already softened.

Tips

  • The bananas must be overripe, with brown spots. Greenish ones taste of starch and make a bland lolly.
  • Out of season, use frozen mango — let it thaw in the fridge, otherwise the mix thickens immediately and will not pour into the moulds.
  • You can replace the milk with plain yogurt (a tangier, firmer lolly) or a plant drink. Oat drink holds the texture best; almond drink is watery.
  • No added sugar does not mean no sugar — dates and bananas are a concentrated source of fruit sugars. This is a better lolly, not a low-calorie one.
  • Moulds: silicone ones are the easiest to unmould, rigid plastic gives a sharper shape and lasts longer. If you have neither, small cups or yogurt pots work — cover the top with foil and push the stick through it, and it will stand upright.

Why it works

A lolly stays soft when part of its water is still unfrozen at freezer temperature. Sugars do that job, and here they come from fruit alone: dates are almost two thirds sugars, and mostly glucose and fructose, which lower the freezing point about twice as effectively as sucrose. Mango and bananas add flesh, fibre and starch, and milk adds milk solids — together the total solids climb above a quarter of the weight. That makes the mix thick even before freezing, leaving the crystals no room to grow freely.

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Sources