Strawberry Sorbet

I mentioned that we made some strawberry sorbet in my post about the kiwi sorbet, and here it is.

I used a recipe from the booklet that came with our Cuisinart ice cream maker. Below is an edited version. I didn't bother removing the seeds.

Fresh Strawberry Sorbet
Makes about 10 1/2-cup servings
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 qt. fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
4 Tbsp. lemon or lime juice

1. Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer until sugar is fully dissolved. Let cool completely.
2. Combine strawberries and lemon (or lime) juice in food processor and pulse to chop, about 15-20 times. Process until completely pureed. (Optional: strain to remove seeds.)
3. Combine puree, cooled sugar syrup, and corn syrup. Chill for 1 hour.
4. Process in ice cream maker for about 25-30 min. and transfer to freezer container.

Kiwi Sorbet

Lots of fruit has been on sale recently, so we've been consuming it in various forms. We got some kiwi on sale (8/$1), so I made some kiwi sorbet. I used this recipe, except I didn't bother straining out the seeds. It looks more like kiwi with them in there. The best part is that it only took three ingredients: kiwi, sugar, and water. We actually made this a few times last year, but for some reason, we never took photos until now.

I also made some strawberry sorbet around the same time, which I'll post about soon. We have been stretching both batches by putting scoops of both together for a strawberry-kiwi combination. We think it tastes good. We decided against making a batch of strawberry-kiwi sorbet (instead of two separate batches), because we figured it would probably turn out some shade of unappetizing brown and wouldn't make for the best photos.

Catching Up...Frozen Treats

Sorry we sort of dropped off the face of the earth for a while (we apologize to the five people who actually keep up with this blog). Things have been kind of hectic, which means we have lots to blog about. So, the next several posts will be about some things we've done since the last time we posted.

So, first we'll catch up on some frozen treats we made over the summer before it gets colder and you don't want to think about frozen things for a while.

We got a case of mangoes (10 count) for $3.99, so we made some mango sorbet:



Mango Sorbet



It was really good and thick (the recipe called for light corn syrup). We also got some limes for 10/$1, so we made some lime sorbet:



Lime Sorbet



We used the recipe we've used for lemon sorbet to make the lime sorbet. It was pretty tart, but good. Although, we like the lemon sorbet a bit more.

And last, but not least, we made a few batches of coffee ice cream (which was our favorite until the mocha chip idea we posted about before):



Coffee Ice Cream

We made lots of batches of mocha chip in between (and are still making it). Obviously, we recommend investing in an ice cream/sorbet/frozen yogurt maker if you tend to buy ice cream. It'll probably save you some money in the long run and you can experiment with flavors you might not find at the store (and it's slightly better for you--at least, that's what we like to tell ourselves).
Any suggestions for recipes to try? (We just might try them and post about them!)

Mocha Chip Ice Cream

We tried a new (for us) recipe from our Cuisinart ice cream maker recipe book, and it's really good. Most of the ice cream recipes in the book call for whole milk and heavy cream, but we always use 2% milk and half-and-half (milk and cream) instead. It would probably be creamier if we went by the recipe, but we'd rather have less fat, and it tastes good to us. We'll most likely be posting about ice cream/sorbet again soon, since it's summer and we're making it a lot.

First, we tried a batch of mocha ice cream. It's the same exact recipe, except for without the chocolate chips:



Mocha Ice Cream

 

Mocha Dark Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, fresh out of the machine



We got a sweet deal on the chocolate bars. Valli Produce has them on sale for 89 cents this month, so we've been stocking up on mostly dark chocolate (our favorite). Ed's job is pounding the chocolate bar to make the chips:


One 3.5-oz. bar yields the amount of chips shown

 Mocha Chip Ice Cream
(makes about 1.5 qt.)

1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
1.5 Tbsp. instant coffee or espresso powder (we used instant coffee)
1.5 Tbsp. cocoa powder
2 cups half-and-half (1/2 quart)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4-oz. bittersweet/semi-sweet chocolate bar, chopped into tiny, uneven pieces (or same amount of chocolate chips)

1) In medium bowl, whisk milk, sugar, coffee, and cocoa until dissolved.
2) Stir in half-and-half and vanilla. (Don't add chocolate chips yet)
3) Freeze in an ice cream maker, according to manufacturer's instructions. Add chocolate chips during last 5 min. of mixing.

FYI: We experimented to see if we could eek two back-to-back batches out of our freezer bowl (instead of re-freezing it between batches, which takes several hours), but it didn't freeze at all--it just kept it cold (just in case anyone out there has the same ice cream maker and was wondering). Now we see the benefit in having a second freezer bowl. Maybe we'll pick one up.

Blackberry Frozen Yogurt

Blackberries were on sale for 89 cents/pkg. I almost made a cobbler, but it was pretty hot here when I made this, so frozen yogurt sounded more refreshing.

I sort of experimented with the recipe, and it turned out well. It was also really easy.

Blackberry Frozen Yogurt
(makes 1-1.5 qt)

about 1 cup blackberry puree (doesn't have to be exact)
1 32-oz. container of plain yogurt
1/2 to 1 cup sugar (to your taste)

1) Make blackberry puree: Puree washed berries (2 containers' worth) in food processor or blender. Strain seeds out with mesh strainer.
2) In medium bowl, stir yogurt and sugar together well.
3) Add blackberry puree to yogurt/sugar mixture. Stir until combined.
4) Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.