Deep Dark Chocolate Sorbet

Hello. So much for frequent blogging.

I have finally returned from our annual "Family Vacation" with my husband's family. We left the unusually nice and cool summer up here in rural Ohio and headed for Hilton Head Island. There was a lot of golf, swimming in the ocean and the pool, happy kids running around, some wine, and general family enjoyment. Other than a minor jelly fish sting on my foot, and leaving my purse in a dive restaurant in West Virginia it was a really pleasant week. (The foot was just fine by the next day and we recovered the purse about 3 hours later after driving through West Virginia again to get it. Nothing was stolen and my credit cards were untouched. Whew!)

But now that we're back home, we've made the unhappy discovery that the lovely cool summer we were enjoying blossomed into a sweltering hot one. This is not fun. There's no ocean in rural Ohio. And we don't have a pool. I could drink wine, but that would be counterproductive. It's so hot that I've been cooking without turning on the heat in the house. Yeah for the grill! But before I get to any of those recipes (and really the camera needs new batteries so who knows how long that will take me!) let's enjoy a scoop of this rich, chocolaty sorbet. It's easy, delicious, and totally refreshing.

Deep Dark Chocolate Sorbet

from The Ultimate Ice Cream Book

2 cups water

1 cup sugar

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Combine the water and sugar in a heavy saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Whisk in the cocoa and bring the mixture to a simmer. Simmer for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from the heat and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Stir the cool mixture and then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Cranberry Merlot Sorbet

By now, you are probably a little bit tired of reading the number of things I'm grateful for. So I won't dwell on telling you why I'm grateful that in order to go to Target, or Meijer's, or Starbucks in the "big" city in the county north of me I have to pass farmland, one herd of sheep, and two herds of cows. I just am. It makes me happy.

What I will elaborate on is that I was reading an article a couple days ago about stress and gratitude. I can't seem to find the article anymore so I may have read it in the line at the grocery or in the doctor's office. But the point is that it is apparently impossible to be both stressed out and grateful at the same time. I thought it was an interesting idea and I'm thinking it's been working in my life. But don't worry, I won't keep posting what I'm grateful about. That could be a bit much. I did manage to find a similar article on the web, it's a little old, but interesting none the less. Check it out here.


Another reason to be grateful is that Trader Joe's sells a pretty cheap, ($3 if you want to travel all the way to Cleveland), but drinkable wine called Charles Shaw (Two Buck Chuck for those in the know). This wine, in the Merlot variety, really sent my cranberry sorbet over the moon! Somehow a Dinner of Giving Thanks doesn't seem right without the cranberry in it somewhere. I admit it. I love the jellied cranberry stuff that comes out in the shape of the can. But I just didn't feel like eating the leftovers of it. Besides I tried the cranberry sorbet out of The Ultimate Ice Cream Book for a Christmas dessert a while back and while it was tasty I wanted to take it up a notch. So I followed Bruce Weinstein's instructions for the Spiced Cranberry Sorbet and then added my good buddy Chuck to give it a zing. Wheeee! Yummy this is good. It's something to be grateful for.

Cranberry Merlot Sorbet
adapted from The Ultimate Ice Cream Book

1/2 pound fresh cranberries (about 2 cups)
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 cups Merlot
1 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
zest of 1 lemon

Place all ingredients in a large heavy saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture comes to a simmer. Continue to cook for 2 minutes or until the cranberries pop and begin to soften. Remove from the heat and allow the cranberry mixture to cool slightly.

Puree in a blender. If necessary, do this in 2 batches. Pass the puree through a sieve to remove the skins. The puree will be thick and may need to be pushed through using a wooden spoon. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Stir the chilled mixture and then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Margarita Sorbet

I have an aunt who used to drink heavily when she went to go visit her mother in a nursing home. My uncle started buying these margarita mixes that come in freezable pails. All he had to do was add a bottle of tequila and stick it in the freezer. He then would give the bucket to my aunt with a spoon. He said it slowed her down a little bit.

This sorbet makes me think of that. Partly because I was again having trouble waiting for it to freeze firm. What I ended up with is a damnass good sorbet that tastes remarkably like a very very good margarita. I could totally see serving this in a glass with a salted rim (except I like my margaritas without salt). And I completely have my husband to thank for this delicious scoop of frozen dessert. I promised him when I made the ice cream that I would make him some sorbet that didn't have any milk in it. And I'm submitting this one to Mike at Mike's Table for that ice cream event. I LOVE this event!

All it took was 7 limes and a frantic search for tequila that wasn't Patron (Patron in a sorbet is just ridiculous extravagant). We found two bottles of triple sec and a big litre bottle of Jose. It was a learning experience for our marriage. We have a HUMONGOUS stockpile of alcohol. We are a little bit short on the bourbon, but we have a crazy amount of pretty much everything else. I think it's part of being older when we got married. We not only combined 2200 square feet of stuff into a 700 square foot house, we combined bars. It's a little stunning. I think there may be more liquor in the garage too. As the Brain said, "we need to start drinking more." Maybe I'll just make more sorbet and go visit my mother. hee hee hee.

Margarita Sorbet

adapted from The Ultimate Ice Cream Book by Bruce Weinstein

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 cups water

1 large egg white

2/3 cup fresh lime juice (from 7-8 limes)

zest of 2 limes

1/4 cup tequila

1/4 cup triple sec

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and place over low heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves completely. Raise the heat and boil the syrup 1 minute. Remove from heat.

In a medium mixing bowl, lightly beat the egg white with an electric mixer until foamy. about 10 seconds. Slowly beat in the hot sugar syrup. Continue to beat until the mixture cools down slightly. Add the lime juice, triple sec, tequila, and zest. Cover and refrigerate until cold or overnight. The mixture will have foam on top, but will incorporate into the sorbet when it freezes.

Stir the chilled mixture, then freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. When finished, the sorbet will be soft but ready to eat. For firmer sorbet, transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze at least 2 hours.

Marshmallow Walnut Chocolate Ice Cream

So I'm procrastinating on making my Daring Baker challenge for this month. I've cleaned the house some. Watched the Brain do some serious housework. Taken my Focus in to see what's wrong with it this month. Played on a parked Vespa, imagining myself to be scooting around Nowhere, Ohio in a kicky skirt while speaking fluent Italian. And learned about Ford Escapes. The Brain has left to run some all day errands and I really need to get my butt in gear and make this challenge.

But instead I decided to finish the ice cream that I made this week and tell you about it. Remember last month's cocoa Cupcake Hero? And how the theme ingredient was cocoa and we were supposed to highlight Askinosie cocoa and those lovely people at Askinosie Chocolate sent me some of the cocoa. Well, I decided that probably I should use it again because my habit of sneaking into the kitchen just to sniff it was starting to get a little weird. That and there's this ice cream blogging event going on at Mike's Table called You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream for Frozen Desserts.

The flavor of the Askinosie Cocoa comes out so clear and luscious in this ice cream. I had a hard time not just eating the custard before I even got started freezing it. That and I also learned that I can not be left alone with fresh mini marshmallows. I apparently love them. So yes, this recipe makes smooth and velvety chocolate ice cream studded with crunchy walnuts and springy marshmallows and over the course of the week I ate it all. And I'm not sorry that I didn't share.

I did tell the Brain that I will make him a milk-free sorbet this week though. I didn't tell him that I was going to use some of my donut frying money to order me some more of that cocoa powder. I'm not addicted or anything. I can quit whenever I want.

Marshmallow Walnut Chocolate Ice Cream

adapted from The Ultimate Ice Cream Book by Bruce Weinstein

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup heavy cream

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup mini marshmallows

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Place the sugar, eggs, and cocoa in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Bring the milk to a boil in a heavy medium saucepan. With the food processor running, slowly pour the hot milk into the food processor feed tube. Process until well blended. Pour the entire mixture back into the pan and place over low heat. Stir constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon until the custard thickens slightly and reaches 170 degrees F. Be careful not to let the mixture boil or the eggs will scramble. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the hot chocolate custard through a strainer into a large, clean bowl. Allow the custard to cool slightly, then stir in the cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until cold or overnight.

Stir the chilled custard, then freeze in 1 or 2 batches in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. While the machine is running and the ice cream is semi-frozen, add the marshmallows and walnuts. Allow the machine to thoroughly mix them in. When finished, the ice cream will be soft but ready to eat. For firmer ice cream, transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze at least 2 hours.

Thanksgiving Terrine

The very best thing about my 6am Friday spin class, besides being a nice excuse why I can't do the annual Friday after Thanksgiving shopping trip, is that on Fridays I don't feel nearly as guilty about indulging in ice cream. Ice cream and I have a long and passionate love affair. I even tried the new Haagen Dazs flavor, Caramelized Pear and Toasted Pecan; interestingly pear ice cream is good even though frozen pears still fall into that very large category of fruit I don't really appreciate.

So one of the reasons I started this blog was because this food blogging culture has these food events where everyone posts recipes on the same theme, sort of. And I wanted to try it out. Anyway, Running with Tweezers is sponsoring Hay Hay it's Donna Day -Terrines this month. I thumbed through as many cookbooks as I could get my hands on and although things looked tasty, I couldn't get passed the ultimate looming question: "If the Brain doesn't eat the leftovers, would I want to eat this for a week?" Unfortunately for most of the jellied vegetable terrines the idea didn't really thrill me. And fruit, really I don't think I could do a week of it. I definitely could do a week of a terrine of pate, but then I'd probably have to go to the gym like 3 times a day. Then laying awake in bed trying to think of things I could eat for a week, it came to me. Ice cream.

I just happen to have The Ultimate Ice Cream Book: Over 500 Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, Drinks and More by Bruce Weinstein, and it happens to have a recipe for pumpkin ice cream. I love pumpkin ice cream. The first time I tried it I had just moved to Lenexa, Kansas (suburb of Kansas City) for a job and was spending Thanksgiving very much alone for the first time. For some reason Baskin Robbins 31 flavors was open and I decided on pumpkin ice cream instead of baking myself an entire pumpkin pie.

My favorite store bought member of the ice cream food group is Ciao Bella Blackberry Cabernet sorbet. Wow. Yummy. Seriously. There was no way I was leaving this out. I mean the rules called for layers, so why not fill it full of favorites?

The final layer was the hardest to decide on. I wanted to keep the texture of the terrine on a whole the same, but what went with pumpkin and blackberry? Something subtle, something fallish and good around Thanksgiving. So laying awake on yet another night, I toyed with the idea of a brown sugar ice cream. I consulted with the Brain and he seemed indifferent. Then I thumbed through the ice cream book again and casually mentioned maple. The Brain was far more enthusiastic on that one, so the decision was made.




Interestingly if you look up the word terrine in the dictionary you will also find the definition as a casserole dish made of earthenware. Even more interestingly, I have a terrine. I'm sure you're shocked. I'm shocked anyway. So instead of layering this terrine in a loaf pan or some loaf shaped container that would hold a lot more. I decided to make this terrine in my terrine. HA! (I'm such an overachiever sometimes.) Also this is good because now there are leftovers and on days I don't have Spin class or I'm too lazy to drag myself to the gym I can pull out my melonballer and have a "diet" sized portion of each.


Thanksgiving Ice Cream Terrine
1 cup pumpkin ice cream (can be purchased in fall or recipe follows)
1/2 cup Cia Bella Blackberry Caberney Sorbet
1 cup maple ice cream (recipe follows)

Remove pumpkin ice cream from the freezer and soften. Line terrine with plastic wrap. Place 1 cup pumpkin ice cream in bottom of terrine. Cover terrine and place in the freezer. Once pumkin layer is frozen hard, spread blackberry sorbet over the top of it. Cover terrine and return to freezer. After blackberry layer is as solid as it's going to get, remove maple ice cream from the freezer and soften. Spread 1 cup maple ice cream over the top of the terrine. Cover terrine and place in the freezer until solid. (I did each layer on a different day.)

To unmold: invert terrine onto a plate. Alternate rubbing hands on sides and bottom of terrine and pulling on the plastic wrap. Be gentle and be patient and with a little coaxing the terrine should pop free. Quickly slice and serve.

Pumpkin Ice Cream
The Ultimate Ice Cream Book

1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
5 large egg yolks
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 cup half and half
15oz can solid pack pumpkin
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the brown sugar and corn syrup in the egg yolks until thickened and pale yellow. Beat in the cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Set aside.

Bring the half and half to a simmer in a large, hevy saucepan. Slowly beat the hot half and half into the eggs and sugar. Pour the entire mixture back into the pan and place over low heat. Stir constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon until the custard thickens slightly. Be careful not to let the mixture boil. Remove from the heat and beat in the canned pumpkin. Pour the hot custard through a strainer into a large, clean bowl. Allow the custard to cool slightly, then stir in the cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until cold or overnight.

Stir the chilled custard, then freeze in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. When finished, the ice cream will be soft and ready to spread in terrine.


Maple Ice Cream
The Ultimate Ice Cream Book

6 large eggs
1 cup pure maple syrup
2 tsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup half and half
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks with the maple syrup, flour and salt. Set aside.

Bring the half and half to a simmer in a heavy medium saucepan. Slowly beat the hot half and half into the eggs and maple syrup. Pour the entire mixture back into the pand and place over low heat. Stir constantly with a whisk or wooder spoon until the custard thickens slightly. Be careful not to let the mixture boil. Remove from the heat and pour the hot maple custard through a strainer into a large, clean bowl. Allow the custard to cool slightly, then stir in the cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until cold or overnight.

Stir the chilled custard, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. When finished the ice cream will be soft and ready to spread in the terrine.