Keeping with the fall theme from my last post, I chose to make my first sorbet, Apple Cider. While this doesn't seem like a scary idea, I was rather skeptical as to how it would turn out. Thinking back, I had never seen apple sorbet on a menu and given the choice I'll usually go for ice cream over a sorbet any day of the week. Confounding my skepticism is the fact that I was using sorbet and sherbert interchangeably in my searches. I had forgotten that while similar, they are much different; sherbert contains dairy while sorbet does not. A good explanation of the differences can be found on
eNotes. Once I got the differences between the two straightened out, I honed in on my search; trying to find something that could be prepared while I was cooking dinner.
Ingredients
| Nutritional Info
|
Serving Size 1/2 cup
Servings 10
|
|
| Calories 100
|
| Fat 0g
|
| Sat Fat 0g
|
| Carbs 25g
|
| Sugar 25g
|
- 6 cups apple cider
- a 3-inch cinnamon stick
- 1/2 cup sugar
Modified from
Epicurious
Equipment
- 3qt pot
- Fine mesh sieve or strainer
- Whisk
- Measuring cup
Optional
- Large and medium bowl for ice bath
Instructions
In a large saucepan combine the cider, the cinnamon stick, the sugar, and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil for 10+ minutes. Reduce to 4 cups.
Note, the cider will start to bubble and foam a bit, so adjust heat accordingly.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl. This is an important step, that I learned first hand while making bourbon ice cream over the summer. While making the custard base, had walked away from the stove and the milk curdled a bit. At the time, I didn't have a strainer and poured the mixture into the ice cream machine unfiltered. A few days later some friends were trying the ice cream and all asked, "what are the little frozen bits in the ice cream?!" Usually chunks are a good thing in ice cream (eg. cookie dough), but not chunks of cinnamon bark or curdled milk.
I put the bowl in an ice bath so that I could make the sorbet the same night. After about 2 hours in the bath, the mixture was cold enough to be turned into sorbet. I left the sorbet mixture in the ice cream machine for about 25 minutes before transferring to containers.
Conclusions
To be honest, I was in such a rush to find a recipe and get the
sorbet made that I settled on one that didn't require a lot of time or
ingredients and I think the results showed. While I was happy with the
result, I think there is plenty of room for improvement and will be
making a second batch this weekend for comparison. Looking back on it now, I failed to consult my trustee
Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book
which tends to include corn syrup in each recipe. This I
imagine will give the sorbet a smoother texture and make it easier to
scoop.
Apple Cider Sorbet Take Two coming up this week.
with anti-freeze in the handle but a regular scoop should do just fine right?! Anyways, back to the actual topic, the updated recipe.
