BoomerGirl Diary

This is my summer of homemade ice cream. My ice cream maker has earned its keep in my freezer and I haven’t even remotely missed the space that it’s taken up. A few weeks ago, I made chocolate ice cream that was inspired by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. I did a post on my personal blog that you can read and find the recipe.

After this extremely rich and cool confection, I wanted something with a bit less fat. A little more simple. I thought about making sorbet. That’s probably my next foray into the world of frozen desserts. Instead I chose something that is somewhere in between the two — a sherbet. According to the Wikipedia entry, sherbet is a frozen dessert made from ice sweetened fruit juice or puree requiring a milk content between 1 and 2 percent in the United States. I haven’t done any other extensive research into the differences between ice cream, sorbet, and sherbet, but that definition fits within my general beliefs about them all.

I set about looking at different sherbet recipes and trying to adapt them to the ingredients I had on hand — an orange and several lemons. I came up with a recipe that I’ve really enjoyed, but then the process of naming it has been occupying my mind. Recently, I’ve noticed several recipes in the blogosphere where the time of day that the food is to be eaten has made it’s way into the name – morning tea muffins, for example.

Then I started thinking about afternoon snacks and what the connotation of time conjures up in our minds when we think of a food. Does “Morning Sherbet” make you think of something different than “Midnight Sherbet” or “Sherbet After 6?” What about “Sunrise Sherbet?” They definitely bring different ideas to my mind even though it’s all the same recipe. I guess sherbet makes me philosophical. After toying with the idea of time, I’m still coming up empty. I’ve been eating the sherbet at night, after I get home from work and settle in with a nice movie. Maybe that’s it?

Sherbet For A Relaxing Night In

¾ cup sugar

½ cup honey

¾ cup water

¾ cup vanilla rice milk

¾ cup half & half

Dash of sea salt

1 orange and 2 ½ lemons (juiced and zested) This will make close to one cup of juice.

In medium microwaveable bowl, whisk together sugar, water, honey, juices and zest. I used a manual juicer and added some of the pulp back in to the mixture. Make sure there are no seeds. Heat in microwave for one to two minutes, just until warm. Whisk well, add salt, rice milk, and half & half. Whisk until combined. Pour mixture into ice cream maker and follow instructions. It took about an hour in the ice cream machine. Remove sherbet from machine and put in a container that can stay in the freezer. Freeze sherbet for about 12 hours for a nice consistency. Pairs nicely with fruit or baked goods. I added blueberries one night and anisette cookies on another. Enjoy!