Week 25: All in the Family - Coconut Apricot Sorbet

I entered this year of blogging with the best of intentions. I wanted to start it off with a BANG, but it sort of fizzled. But I'll update you on the past weeks events and tell you whats ahead.

Well for starters I got engaged on NYE! I will figure out how to have ice cream at my wedding, don't you worry. The following week my cousin was supposed to make ice cream with me but the scheduling didn't work out. But she was here with me this weekend to make Oreo for her and we made Coconut Apricot Sorbet from the book. Both are really easy ice creams to get started with so I was happy that it worked out that way. 

For her reference and yours I'd like to go over the process.

Step 1: Make a sugar syrup. In a small saucepan, on medium heat, stir 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup water until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat to cool and refrigerate in a covered container. It lasts for at least a month in the fridge. 

Step 2: Mix 2 cups whole milk, 2 cups heavy cream, 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, and 1/4 cup sugar syrup in a bowl to combine.

Step 3: Pour into ice cream maker and run for 30 minutes or whatever your machine calls for.

Step 4: Put cookies (as many as you'd like) in a plastic zipper bag and crush them. This keeps the mess to a minimum.

Step 5: In the last 5 minutes of mixing add the cookies to the ice cream mixture. If you use a lot of cookies you may want to mix them in by hand after you have taken the ice cream out of the maker.

Step 6: Enjoy homemade Oreo ice cream!

See how easy it is! And if you have a KitchenAid mixer you can get the ice cream bowl attachment. So you don't have to have another appliance taking up space. It looks great. Direct from the manufacturer it is expensive but I have seen it retail as low as $35 on sale. So its a great investment if your just starting out with making ice cream. I must get one.

Aside from making Oreo we made Coconut Apricot Sorbet. It came out lovely. The coconut milk makes it slightly creamy and the apricot flavor is what you really taste. I couldn't find apricot juice so we pureed canned apricots. I didn't strain it because I like the chunkiness of having bits of apricot in it. It has shredded coconut in it as well which adds to the texture. There is a refreshing icy quality that I love about sorbet. On a day like today it might be a bit too cold to enjoy it but I'll certainly try.

A special thank you to my cousin. I am so happy that she was able to come and make ice cream. I think she really enjoyed it and was surprised by how easy it can be. She is welcome in my kitchen anytime. Maybe someday I will get her started with her own machine!

Week 2: Apricot (well Peach) Raspberry Sorbet a.k.a. New House Sorbet

So entering week two I knew I needed an easier recipe to make. This was a busy weekend and it was nice to have enough time to make it without feeling rushed. Tracy just happened to pick out an easy one. I decided to name it New House Sorbet for her because she just bought a new house and the color of this sorbet matched the highlights in her newly colored hair.

Not thinking it would take long, I went to the grocery store today to buy the ingredients. Very few needed, I mainly went in for the frozen raspberries and the apricot juice (I decided to use nectar). Raspberries, no problem, however finding apricot anything was more difficult. I settled on peach nectar as it was the closest I could find. The result - a tangy but sweet enough sorbet that tasted light and refreshing. It is perfect for summer. Rob compared it to Nerds candy, which it is suprisingly reminiscent of. I like the slightly crnchy texture that the raspberry seeds give it. It is much smoother and significantly less icy than sorbets I've made before. I am interested in seeing how the texture changes once it has had time to harden overnight.

I doubled the recipe this time so there should be plenty to go around. This should be a wonderful Monday afternoon treat.