When the trees stand naked under the dreary gray skies and the wind takes on a life of its own, chewing at tender skin in a tenacious attempt to whittle flesh to bone, I close the curtains and imagine warm breezes flitting across a gemstone sea, heat radiating from sugar sand beaches and the soft whisp of the palms.

In rebellion over the coming winter, I make these!

Note: if you’d like to make a vegan version, you can use condensed coconut milk with a copious amount of liquid sweetener of your choice, just adjust the other liquids accordingly. But unless you’re aiming to shrivel your taste buds, don’t forget the sweetener – condensed coconut milk alone creates quite the bitter pop, trust me.

Ingredients:

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 3/4 cup tonic water
• 1/4 cup concentrated lime juice mixed with 3/4 cup water (adjust mix to taste for more tang up the percentage of lime)
• 1/2 cup gin
• 2 or more limes
• Popsicle sticks
• Small dixie cups

 

 

Directions:

Pour all the liquid ingredients into a medium mixing bowl and whisk together. Set the dixie cups out – this usually makes about 10 servings. Pour mix into the cups leaving space at the top for your lime slices, how much space depends on how thick you like your slices. Slice limes, this make take more than 2, depending on the thickness of the slices. Jab a popsicle stick through each slice as near to the center as you can – as you can see from my photos, they don’t have to be precise 🙂

Gently settle the impaled lime slices into the cups making sure that the sticks touch the bottom and the lime rests atop the liquid. Freeze over night and enjoy!