Fun Tools for Making Icy Treats

Enjoy making your own frozen pops, shaved ice and snow cones with these ideas. They’re as much fun to make as they are to eat!

Yonanas Classic Dessert Maker

$49.95, yonanas.com. Also available on amazon.com and at other retailers.

This frozen treat gadget turns out soft serve “ice cream” made from bananas and other fruits in just minutes.

Start with bananas (make sure the bananas are ripe with speckles on the skin). After peeling the bananas it helps to cut them into two or three pieces. Freeze the fruit for 24 hours. Make sure to take the fruit out of the freezer for about 10  minutes so it begins to soften a bit. Then you just push the fruit through the chute and your frozen treat is ready. My two young taste tasters loved their healthy ice cream.

Okay, total fruit is the healthy option. But feel free to add in extras that “up” the taste factor and also the calories and sugar. One of our favorite combinations is bananas and peanut butter cups. Raspberries with mini-chocolate chips is good also. Most of the recipes use bananas in combination with other fruits, but you can try different combinations minus the bananas. Then it is closer to a sorbet.

Pros: A fun  healthy frozen almost ice cream that older kids can make themselves.
Cons: Advanced planning required, or just keep fruit in the freezer.  Be prepared when making for a crowd of kids – there will be a line! Flavor and consistency suffers when made in advance and frozen.

– Liz White

Zoku Original Quick Pop Maker

$49.99; Zoku Single Pop Maker, $24.99. zokuhome.com. Also available on amazon.com and at other retailers.

Serious about popsicles? If your family likes experimenting with recipes and healthy ingredients such as fresh fruit and yogurt, then the Zoku Quick Pop Maker is for you. The maker itself is a super-heavy mold unit to place in your freezer 24 hours before you want frozen treats. Whip up a concoction, fill the icy-cold molds, and expect frozen treats lickety-split. We tried a mix of chocolate pudding, low-fat milk and strawberries. When it came time to pour into the molds, however, we learned to be extra careful because the Quick Pop Maker really is quick. Filled molds start to freeze instantly. A pop is frozen solid in about five minutes; you can quickly make more while the mold is still cold enough. To get the pops out of their frozen “slots,” a special grip tool (included) screws into each pop’s reusable plastic stick. The “Lemonade” pops (fresh lemon juice, pure orange juice and vanilla extract)  we  tried next turned out so great, we felt like a professional!

A popsicle aficionado will want Zoku’s own “Quick Pops” recipe book ($16.95), which provides recipes and instructions for making too-pretty-sicles such as the “Caramelized Banana Coconut,” “Cookie Dough,” or the “Rhuberry” (fresh rhubarb pop with embedded strawberry skins). A “tools” kit ($19.99) helps you make extra-cool designs on your popsicles such as waves, or “marbling.”
Pros: You never knew you could make such gorgeous treats yourself! Maker is so sturdy, it seems it will last a lifetime.
Cons: Getting the process “down” takes a little trial and error, but learning how to use the tools will prove well worth it.

– Julie and Elly Bookman

Hawaiian Shaved Ice

Snow Cone Machine S700, $39.95 (machine only); Machine plus “Ultimate” snow cone package, $88.99. hawaiianshavedice.com. Also available on amazon.com and other retailers.

Kids will love this easy-to-use machine. This snow cone maker requires little assembly, and the 5- and 7-year-old boys who helped quickly pushed the adult out of the way because “we want to do it ourselves!”

After assembling the three main machine components, the boys dumped about two cups of ice into the bowl. We plugged it in, placed the lid over the ice, held it down and turned it slightly to the left to begin shaving the ice. The boys placed their cones under the spout and little chunks of snow quickly filled up their cones. Although the machine is available separately, we recommend choosing the “Ultimate” package because you’ll get a variety of flavor syrups, cups, straws and spouts – everything you need for a great day of snow cone making.
Pros: Quick and simple assembly, snow cones ready in mere minutes. The machine’s blade is well covered, so no worries that little fingers could get too close.
Cons: Ice not as “snowy” as you might get from an industrial machine, but it’s still a great cool treat for a hot day.

– Kate Wallace

Nostalgia Electrics’ Single Snow Cone Maker

$26.99. amazon.com
Nostalgia Electrics Single Snow Cone Maker was a lot of fun and very easy to use. It comes with a plastic snow cone holder, which you place in the stand under the spout, then simply add about eight ice cubes, place and turn the lid, and the “snow” comes pouring out into the holder. These cones are made in less than a minute, but we were a little disappointed that they didn’t form into the nice rounded shape you associate with snow cones. The snow cone maker is a great alternative to the usual popsicles and ice cream we have at home in the summer. The bonus here: kids can help and get to use their creative “juices” experimenting with flavoring.
Pros: Easy to use, works quickly, easy to clean up.
Cons: Noisy “grating” sound.

– Kirsten Gromatzky

Jelly Belly Dual Electric Ice Shaver

$26.99. jellybelly.com
This ice shaver can make two snow cones at a time. The flavors available for purchase may remind you of favorite jellybeans such as wild cherry, green apple and root beer. Some flavors are even available in sugar-free versions.

After a few minutes of assembly, the machine was plugged in, filled with ice and cones were placed in the convenient holders. An added feature of this machine: built-in holders with syrup dispensers. The ice-grinding noise was not the most quiet of all that were tested, but the treat in the end made up for it. We especially liked the root beer-cherry combo flavor.
Pros: The colorful machine could be a great addition to a party. The syrup flavors are jellybean delicious!
Cons: The machine is very loud; assembly was more involved than other machines we tried.

– Kate Wallace