Mint-Lemon Sorbet

Chicago, I love you. However, I don’t like it when you tease me with sun, warm weather, and birds chirping…only to take it away two days later. Seriously, what is madness? When I was moving to Chicago, snarky people would always be like “ugh the weather there is awful,” and it never really influenced my opinion. I have a home, I have heat and food, I can survive 5 minutes outside in the cold, and it’s not that terrible. While I feel like my blood has adapted to endure -50 degrees, for some reason today, I simply cannot handle it.

Last week, we were in the 70’s and I was pleasant. I got this amazing idea to start transitioning into making and mastering ice creams and enjoy my cold treats for the warm days ahead. Chicago was like, ha, not so fast, let me dump rain, wind and cold all over your pleasantness. So here I am, in freezing weather, trying to eat ice cream and sorbet while my bones chill from the inside out. Yikes.

I was in the zone with my KitchenAid ice cream attachment. Although I was hesitant to make more cold treats, I went for it. Specifically, I went for sorbet.

To be honest, I am not the biggest sorbet fan. It’s always a little too cold for my teeth. However, what I do like, is that it takes significantly less time than making ice cream. I don’t have to temper egg yolks, or milk a cow for whole milk. It’s easier on the bank of Gilly. I decided to try it.

Fun fact about me, I love lemons. They’re always in my water, I always have at least 5 handy. They’re my citrus of choice. So, making a lemon sorbet seemed kind of obvious to myself. I was browsing my baking book of choice, which I feel like I mention every other day, Joy the Baker’s Homemade Decadence, because right now, it’s just the best baking book for my needs. Her recipe for a lemon-mint sorbet simply screamed my name, and when my friend Elizabeth and I were at Whole Foods, I bought a 5-pound bag of lemons for my endeavor.

To begin, make sure your ice cream machine is chilled for at least 15-hours. Don’t skip this.

Take your lemons and juice them until you have 1 cup of fresh lemon juice. If you don’t want to juice your own lemons, you can buy the Realemon juice that they sell everywhere. I simply couldn’t find it this time around. I saved the halved lemons to use a serving bowl for my treats.

Next, take 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water and bring to a boil on medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and mix in ½ cup of mint leaves. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.

Using a strainer, pour the syrup into a medium bowl, discarding the mint leaves. Mix in the lemon juice, teaspoon of vodka (I used Pisco) and lemon zest. Mix together well and pour into a bowl or pitcher and place in the fridge for an hour.

When ready to churn, follow your manufacturer’s guide. Freeze the sorbet for at least 2 hours. I froze mine overnight. Enjoy!

In my opinion, I loved this recipe. It was refreshing and tangy. I think I would prefer to make a chill with it (soda water and sorbet) and have as a drink. Highly recommend this recipe!

Mint-Lemonade Sorbet
recipe by Joy the Baker, “Homemade Decadence”

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• Handful, about ½ cup of fresh mint leaves
• 1 cup lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons vodka
• 1 teaspoon of lemon zest

Instructions:

1. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, combine 1 cup of water with the sugar. Cook, stirring, until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the mint leaves, stir, cover and let steep for 15 minutes. Strain the syrup, discarding the mint leaves. Stir in the lemon juice, vodka, and zest. Pour the mixture into a pitcher. Cover and refrigerate until completely chilled, about an hour.
2. Churn the mixture according to manufacturer’s instructions. The sorbet will be about the consistency of thick (though icy) pudding. Transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.