Infusion: Lemon & Olive Oil Sorbet

Mmmm, sorbet, it has been quite some time since I devoted time to the fresh and fruity cousin of traditional ice cream. I've even made granita since I last made sorbet! Jeez, what is this!? Well, my Mocha Latte triumph inspired me to continue my experimentation using household ingredients. Of course, my household ingredients aren't always as convenient as others. For example, not everyone has a bowl of kuzu root in their pantry, but I do! If you do not have any of this, I recommend getting some.You can get it at Asian markets, and I actually got mine at Whole Foods. It was $1.99 for quite a lot. Especially since you only need 1 tablespoon at a time- and you never know when it will come in handy. Basically, I use kuzu root as a stabilizer and emulsifier since I do not use eggs in my ice creams or sorbets. I know, you think I am a crazy person, "there are no eggs in sorbet!" Correct, however, stay tuned because I will explain this in a moment.

If you've ever made a vinaigrette, you know that oils tend to separate from other liquids. I know, ice cream addicts like us tend to avoid our leafy lunch options, but bear with me. What would make the oil act any differently in an ice cream or sorbet than it would in a salad dressing? It wouldn't! So let's dig a little deeper- when you are making an emulsified dressing, you need to add...an emulsifier...you see? Generally this is egg yolk or mustard...buuut since we don't want either of those in our sorbet, we will use our good old pal kuzu. He will do the very same thing that the egg would do, but will 1) be vegan and 2) actually has a lot of medicinal qualities.

Kuzu or "Kudzu" has actually shown to help with allergies, nasty hangovers, and migraines. In addition, long term use of this root has proven (in mice, idk about humans) to significantly decrease the effects of postmenopausal hypertension and type II diabetes. Of course, all the sugar in the sorbet won't really help you, but it is always good to know when your alternative ingredients are actually beneficial rather than detrimental. To the recipe!

Lemon & Olive Oil Sorbet

12 lemons- juiced (or 1c. lemon juice...I discourage this)
1c. sugar
1c. water

1T tequila or vodka

1/4c. olive oil

2T kuzu root

I'm going to take a minute to talk about these ingredients. 1) I recommend using Meyer Lemons...they are delicious and will have a more powerful flavor than using bottled lemon juice. 2) I used powdered sugar because I did not have any real sugar in the house (which makes it no longer standard vegan). I recommend making a simple syrup out of your usual sugar and water and using that. 3) I typically try to use alcohols that will be beneficial to the flavor of my product. You can always substitute them with vodka, but the alcohols I list are the ones I feel will impact the flavor best. The alcohol is used to keep the product from overhardening. 4) I would not use a strong or expensive olive oil for this. While you do want the flavor, you do not want it to overpower the lemon.

the instructions: Combine the first four ingredients, and set aside. In a blender, puverize kuzu root until it is a powder. Add the olive oil and blend until homogeneous. slowly add the lemon juice and blend just until emulsified. Churn immediately and then freeze until firm. I would serve a big scoop of this with some fresh or frozen fruit. Yum!

Vegan Experiment: White Chocolate Almond Ice Cream (Coconut Milk Base)

My frustrations with soy milk bases drove me to choose another dairy-free option: coconut milk. I had never worked with it before, so while shopping I wasn't sure if I should use pure canned coconut milk or the drinkable coconut milk beverage. I could see the advantages to both:
Canned Coconut Milk: Essentially as pure as I'd be able to get it, naturally thick, cheapcheapcheap
Coconut Milk Drinking Beverage: Closer consistency to real milk, less coconut flavor
So I got both. This is an experiment after-all! After much conversation with folks, I decided on white chocolate-almond as the flavor.

I melted the white chocolate and folded in the canned coconut milk. It still tasted a LOT like coconut so I added another bag of white chocolate. It. Was. GOOP. Slimy, sticky, tasty goop. Goop that refused to freeze. It wasn't til I looked over my equation that I realized what had happened....my white chocolate content was DOUBLE that of my coconut milk! Oh, the embarrassment! AND the frustration! I had finally gotten it to the point where I could actually TASTE the white chocolate! For that reason, I decided to thin it out using the coconut milk beverage. That way I could get it to the proper consistency without compromising the white chocolate-y flavor I was aiming for. The third churn was finally a success resulting in a relatively creamy (yet still mildly ice-y...I blame the drinking beverage) final product.

In the future, I think I will stick with just the canned coconut milk and create a flavor combination that will either a) better mask the coconut flavor or b) compliment the coconuttiness. I have a feeling that if I had used dark chocolate I would not have run into this problem.

Here is the post-goop recipe (with some edits upon taste-test):

White Chocolate Almond Ice Cream

2- 12 oz bags White Chocolate Chunks
2 cans Coconut Milk
1 quart Coconut Milk Drinking Beverage
1/3 cup Agave Nectar
2 c. Toasted Sliced Almonds

In a double boiler, melt white chocolate with agave. Mix in coconut milk and coconut drinking beverage. Cool. Churn. During the last 3 minutes, add the cooled toasted almonds. Freeze until firm and enjoy!

Apple Cider Sorbet

It's fall, so along with all the pumpkin-y goodness it is almost mandatory that everyone has a little apple cider around. Sure, the four gallons we have in our refrigerator might be overkill, but 1) hello, free 2) hello, tasty. I froze half of it to break out later for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I saved some of it for sorbet.

Apple Cider Sorbet

6c. apple cider
1/2T. cinnamon
1/2c. sugar
2 apples - quartered

Combine all ingredients and simmer for 15 min. Chill. Remove apples and churn for about 25min. Freeze overnight.

Cider already has so much sugar that it doesn't require much. While a few more mulling spices probably would have rounded out the flavor a lot more, I think it was fine with just the cinnamon and extra apple. To serve, I cut some apples in half and hallowed them out with a paring knife and scooped the sorbet into them. The texture wasn't at all ice-crystal-y like I expected...it was actually pretty smooth.

Imagination: Caramel Apple Ice Cream

So it's fall and with an abundance of fairs and sweets, why not transfer them into different mediums? I love caramel apples, but they are practically impossible to eat....and then they have those caramel apple lollipops and damn they are not even remotely the same. So I figured, why not transpose this marvelous concept into ice cream?

I immediately made the decision to not cook the apples. I am looking for a fresh taste, afterall, not one of an apple pie. So why not let the fresh apples infuse the custard, huh? I only used 5 apples, but I changed the recipe to 7 because it just wasn't apple-y enough.

Caramel Apple Ice Cream

ice cream base
3c. whole milk
1T. vanilla
4 egg yolks
1/4c. sugar
7 peeled apples (skins reserved)

caramel
1c. sugar
2T oil or butter
1/4c. milk or soy milk

garnish
reserved apple skins- julienned
1c. canola oil
salt and sugar to taste

In a saucepan, heat milk and vanilla until simmering. Whisk egg yolks and sugar together until fluffy. Temper dairy into yolks and return to heat, stirring constantly until mixture begins to thicken. Transfer to a bowl and chill. Peel the apples and reserve the skins. It is easiest if you peel them with a chanelling knife or you can simply use a peeler and julienne the skins after peeling. Using a box grater, grate the peeled apples and add them to the chilled custard. Set mixture overnight.

In the meantime, add 2c. sugar to a saucepan. Set burner to high and allow the sugar to caramelize. Once all the sugar has dissolved, and the mixture is a golden brown, shut off heat and add oil stirring constantly with heat-proof spatula or whisk. Add the milk (I use soy milk to prevent curdling) and stir until fully incorporated. Put in heatproof bowl and cool. You want the mixture to still be syrupy, but not enough to harden.

The next day, put mixture in a blender or food processor and puree. Strain ice cream base through a seive or cheesecloth and add to ice cream maker. Churn until mixture begins to thicken. In the last 3 minutes, add the cooled caramel. You may not need all of it. Only add enough to create a swirl. Immediately transfer ice cream to freeze-proof containers and allow to freeze overnight.

In a pan, carefully heat the canola oil. Toss the strips of skin in sugar and fry them in the hot oil. Once they begin to caramelize, remove from oil and sprinkle with kosher salt. set aside for garnish.

pg. 147 Chocolate and Brandied Fig Torte

I welcome you back to my laboratory with a little dish called "chocolate and brandied fig torte." Or, as I had to rename it "chocolate and red wine rehydrated fig frozen pie." Equally as delicious, I'm sure...but it wouldn't be right if I called it something it's not.

This was something I literally made off-hand because I had most of the ingredients kicking around my pantry. I didn't have any brandy, but I still had some red wine around from previous experiments so I decided to utilize this in my project.

Chocolate and Brandied Fig Torte

1 1/2c. dried figs
4T brandy (or in my case, red wine)
7oz gingesnaps
1/2c. melted butter
1/2c. milk
9oz plain chocolate
5T sugar

Chop figs and place in bowl. Pour liqueur over the figs and allow to absorb until most of the liquid is gone. Put cookies in food processor and pulse until crumbs. Mix with 1/2 of the butter until moist. Press crumbs into a metal or other freeze-proof pan to form crust and chill. In a saucepan, slowly heat milk and chocolate. Stir continuously until melted and smooth. Put into a bowl to chill. In a separate bowl, whisk together remaining butter and sugar until fluffy. Fold in figs and chocolate, and pour into chilled crust. Freeze overnight. Serve with a garnish of whipped cream, cocoa powder, or fresh figs.

I unintentionally made this vegan by using vegetable oil instead of butter, and soy creamer rather than milk. I also substituted leftover dark chocolate chunks and red wine for the plain chocolate and brandy. Still tasted fabulous! I think I have found my first success in Making Ice Cream and Iced Desserts! Just when I was about to give up on 'em ;)