sorbet mania.

I’ve been on a sorbet frenzy as of late. Pastry Chef taught me a super simple method for our Valentine’s Day dinner and it’s sooooo easy. I love it. All I need is juice/puree, and sorbet syrup.

Today, I wanted to make something ‘shamrock-y’ in preparation of Saint Patrick’s day. So I juiced some limes.

Then I added some mint tea to make a minty-limeade base.

Some Creme de Menthe and minced leaves to up the mintiness. Just a little bit of booze, otherwise the sorbet won’t freeze.

I took a small amount of this limeade and combined it with a little bit of sorbet syrup. Sorbet syrup is a general term for a simple syrup made with ‘simple’ sugars like glucose or glucose-fructose invert syrups. Table sugar, or sucrose, are ginormous molecules and tend to crystallize. Conversely, glucose and fructose are itty bitty, and tends to not crystallize as readily. No crystallization = smooth sorbets.

If there’s too much sugar in a mixture, it won’t freeze. If there’s not enough sugar, you won’t be able to scoop it. So you have to measure the sugar density. Enter THE REFRACTOMETER.
I haven’t used these since college chemistry lab.

You basically drop a bit of the solution and oggle at the scope through a light source. This refractormeter measures in Brix, and I aim for 28 Brix. If it’s under, you add more sorbet syrup. If it’s over, you add more limeade.

Then spin.

Most of the green hue is gone once spun. I like it the way it is, but unfortunately this is not festive enough for our impending St. Patty’s day bash. So maybe the next batch I will add some green food coloring.
We serve it with a simple butter cookie so that it doesn’t take away much from the sorbet.

The cookie dough is a basic 1-2-3 cookie dough I learned from Ruhlman‘s Ratio (amazing book, by the way, GET IT). He calls it “the essence of a cookie”.

Take 1 part sugar, 2 parts butter and whip together.
Add a pinch of salt and a pinch of vanilla beans (or a splash of essence, either or).
Add 3 parts flour. Roll up into a log in parchment paper and fridge for 2 hours.
Slice into quarter-inch slices and bake at 325 degrees until the edges turn golden. Takes about 15 minutes. Voila!

Anyway, back to the mint-lime sorbet. SO GOOD. I want to drop a scoop in a glass of torrontés and make myself a fancy ice cream float.

 

So other sorbets we did:

Tangerine + Bauchant. This one sold out fast!

Strawberry + 15 year old balsamic vinegar. Sexy bartender included (I love you Belen!).