Not Without Salt

Look at you. Being so patient. Really I’m not tease. The past 2 1/2 days have been consumed with the International Food Blogger’s Conference. It was both incredibly thrilling and exhausting. I’m sure I’ll be saying a bit more on that soon. But I just can’t bare to make you wait for your ice cream any longer.

I am going to start this post with a disclaimer. I know it’s not the most exciting or recommended way of starting but as you know or will soon find out,  I don’t like to follow the rules.

So here it goes. It really can be done – making ice cream or sorbet with out an ice cream maker, that is. However, you are a bit limited (I have yet to figure out how to make vanilla or chocolate so you have to stick to frozen fruit) and the results are not as good (the texture created with the churning process is superior).

Before you click away from this post hear me out. I know many of you don’t have an ice cream maker and you shouldn’t be denied the pleasure of devouring delicious frozen desserts. And I do believe that once you have a taste you won’t  miss the ice cream maker you don’t have, instead, you will be whisked away into a dream where sun shines on berries bigger than butterflies and fluffy little bunnies dance in the grass where you lay, begging you for a taste of your ice cream.

With frozen fruit and simple or cream syrup you can create an endless variety of satisfying and chill-inducing treats.

Raspberry, Honey & Black Tea Sorbet

1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries
1/4 cup honey, black tea simple syrup (recipe below)

In a blender combine ingredients and process until smooth. You can adjust the amount of simple syrup based on your desired sweetness. The resulting product will be quite soft. Place in an airtight container then put in the fridge until firm. You may eat it as is or add some yogurt for a delicious smoothie.

Peach Basil Sorbet
approx. 1 1/2 cups frozen peaches
1/4 cup basil simple syrup (recipe below)

Process just as Raspberry Sorbet. You may also use an immersion blender for any of these recipes.

Simple Syrup for Raspberry Sorbet
3/4 cups water
1/4 cup honey
1 cup sugar

Bring to a boil. Turn off heat then steep two black tea bags for 5 minutes. Refrigerate until cold.

Simple Syrup for Peach Sorbet
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
3 large Basil leaves

Bring all ingredients to a boil. Refrigerate until cold. Keep the basil leaves in the syrup.

Raspberry Honey, Black Tea Ice Cream
2 cups frozen raspberries
1/2 cup cream syrup (recipe below)

Process just as the sorbet.

Peach Basil Ice Cream
approx. 2 cups frozen peaches
1/2 cup basil cream syrup (recipe below)

Process just as the sorbet. If you want the ice cream to have a more pronounced basil flavor, process the ice cream with 1 or 2 of the steeped basil leaves.

Cream Syrup for Raspberry Ice Cream
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup sugar
2 black tea bags

In a small sauce pot bring all the ingredients to warm until the sugars have dissolved. Refrigerate until cold.

Cream Syrup for Peach Ice Cream
1 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
5 large Basil Leaves

In a small sauce pot combine all the ingredients and heat gently just until the sugar has dissolved. Refrigerate until cold.

All of the sorbets and ice creams will be a bit soft. Pop them into the freezer for an hour or two then you are ready to go. You can adjust the sweetness to fit your palette. At one point I thought the Raspberry Sorbet was sweet enough but it wasn’t processing very well in the blender so I added a touch of water to get it going again. An immersion blender also works.
Use your imagination to combine different flavors. As berries and fruit are coming into season don’t forget to stock your freezer so that you can have fresh summer fruit sorbets and ice creams all year long.
I made a delightful float using the ice creams and ginger ale. I floated some of the frozen fruits and served with a twisty straw (a must). A sophisticated twist on a classic.
Enjoy!

Check out this version from My First Kitchen.

For more check out Terra Keramik where I have the great pleasure of crafting a delicious recipe every month using their handcrafted dishware as my canvas.

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