What I Did at School Today

My in-laws graciously gave me the ice cream maker attachment that goes with my kitchen aid mixer for my birthday. I’ve been wanting a way to freeze smaller batches of ice cream and sorbet for a while so I could try some recipes without having to get out the giant one we use outside with ice and rock salt. Can I just say that this thing rocks? I’ve already whipped up 3 batches of sorbet since receiving it.

I made a recipe for lemon sorbet that was in the book that came with the ice cream maker. Um, yeah, I didn’t have enough lemons, and that was probably a good thing. I juiced all the lemons I had and two large navel oranges and came up with only a cup and a half of the 2 cups of juice I needed. I filled it out with a bit of water and still turned out a product that puckered us all up a bit too much. I’m so very thankful that I put chopped chocolate in it and topped it with crushed ginger snaps. The citrus sorbet with chocolate chunks and ginger snaps was a great idea, but I think I need to adjust the juice content a bit.

I moved on to chocolate sorbet if an effort to make it up to Hubby. Citrus sorbet is really not his thing, and I went with a source I trust for good recipes. The Smitten Kitchen chocolate sorbet recipe, however, is for over the top chocolate lovers. Really. I meant it. We like our chocolate, and we like it rich and dark (as in love to consume the super dark 70% and sometimes darker stuff). This sorbet was actually too chocolatey for both of us; I didn’t know that was possible. I did still enjoy it; I just would like it better a bit different. Next time I make this, and there will be a next time, I will cut the cocoa content a bit.

I decided that instead of thawing and refreezing the chocolate sorbet with something added to cut the flavor a bit, like some simple syrup, the best solution was to pair it with a good, sweet, fruit sorbet. And so now we have strawberry sorbet that we serve side by side with the chocolate. This is something like a pureed, frozen chocolate covered strawberry. And it is amazing.

I had simple syrup left over from the citrus sorbet, and I couldn’t find a recipe that called for an amount of simple syrup, so I made my own. This makes good, sweet strawberry sorbet; if you’d prefer something with a bit more bite, cut the amount of simple syrup to 1 cup and add an extra half cup of water. Simple syrup is easily made by mixing equal parts sugar and water over medium heat until the sugar dissolves completely. Be sure to chill before using.

Strawberry Sorbet

• 1 16 oz package frozen strawberries, thawed or partially thawed (or a pound of fresh, hulled)
• 1 1/2 cups simple syrup
• juice of one large lemon
• 1/2 cup water

Place all ingredients in your blender and puree; be sure to run the blender for a few minutes just to make sure you get ALL the lumps out. Process this mixture in according to your ice cream maker’s directions. I found that it froze VERY quickly because I used partially frozen strawberries.

I have read that it does not affect sorbet the thaw and refreeze, so if you have it to tart or too sweet you can adjust it by thawing and adding more simple syrup or more water and placing it in the ice cream freezer again; I have not tried this.

I’m headed to the freezer right now to get a bowl for each of us.