I’ve got a refreshing, chilly treat for you on this Monday afternoon. It’s easy (only three steps), requires four ingredients (three if you don’t count the water) and it is my favorite find of the summer.
Lemon Ice
recipe from The Idea Room, originally from Woman’s Day Magazine
3 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 cup squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbsp grated lemon zest
1. Mix water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Boil uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and lemon zest.
3. Pour into a 9×13 baking pan. Freeze 1 hour, then stir. Cover and freeze two hours or overnight until firm. (I let mine cool a bit before throwing it in the freezer. Makes less work for the freezer.)
To serve, chop up and fill lemon “cups” (how-to below). However, lemon cups aren’t necessary. It’s just as good in a regular bowl.
Lemon Cups
Since you need the juice, why not use the rind, too?
With smaller lemons, cut through near the top so the”cup” is as big as it can be. If you’ve got the big lemons, cutting it in half will make two adequately sized cups. Then slice off just a little bit on the bottom so the lemon cup has a flat spot to sit. Be careful because taking off too much off the bottom will make a hole negating the “cup” feature. (Don’t despair. Just put the lemon cup in the dish and all is good.)
After you’ve squeezed the living juice out of all the lemons (and saved it for later), scrape out the pulpy stuff. I found a lot of success by chilling the lemon rinds overnight and in the morning, the inside stuff just peels out.
Happy Monday!
Take care.
-amy c
Nice idea to use the lemon rinds as cups. Lemon ice is pure nostalgia for me. My dad used to take me to American Legion baseball games at a community park. He would often get me lemon ice from the concession stand. Back then it came in paper cups – no plastic. That was good – but lemon rinds? A step above!