Apple & lime sorbet – thanks to The Fairy Hobmother!

A bushel (or a peck?) of autumnal sorbet!

An ice-cream maker post was meant to go up some time in August, but erm, things and deadlines kept happening. So here we have it, my first proper ‘stuff you can make in your Kenwood ice cream maker’ blog post. It came about thanks to a funky chain of events that went like this:

I read Aoife’s blog post, which mentioned The Fairy Hobmother.

I left my wish for an ice cream maker.

The Fairy Hobmother (AKA David the social media guru/marketing whizz from Appliances Online) emailed me back saying that my wish had been granted.

Ice cream maker arrives! *PING!*

I’ve had so many reviews of late, the home cooking side of things has fallen a tad by the wayside, so apologies for the delay. Back to the sorbet though. I was given a giant box of organic apples from Germany. I think they were the local equivalent of Cox’s orange pippins, and there were A LOT of apples to eat. I ate three or four every day for a couple of weeks, made apple cake. This still left me with plenty of pommes (that should probably be Äpfeln) and I decided it was sorbet time!

I love ice cream. but it’s possible I may love a tangy sorbet even more, so I set about with plans for apple sorbet. I also found a few limes kicking around the fridge, so figured an apple/lime sorbet would work quite nicely. I came accross David Lebowitz’s website, and this guy seems to know his ices.

To make life simple, using American measuring cups, the basic recipe for sorbet seems to be 1/4 cup sugar for every 1 cup of juice. Reassuringly straightforward.

Method:

24 hours before – put the bowl of the ice cream maker in the freezer.

Juice the fruit (if using citrus, make sure they’ve been out of the fridge for a bit as you’ll get more out of them if they’re not super-cold).

Measure the liquid – I used measuring cups, but otherwise work on 1 cup (250ml) per 1/4 cup (50g) of granulated sugar. I just had enough for half a litre of sorbet.

In a pan, put the sugar and just enough of the juice to cover the sugar. Heat on a low temp until all of the sugar has dissolved.

Put the sugar mix back into the juice and allow to cool.

Assemble and start the paddle of the icecream machine, and slowly add in the juice.

Watch the paddles whizz around. Convince yourself it’s never going to freeze. Have a debate about it on Twitter. Keep peeking. About 1/2 an hour later start grinning because ‘it’s actually working – look!’. Continue for a wee bit longer. Keep stealing spoonfuls. Transfer whatever’s left to tub and put into the freezer. Freeze a little longer (stir a few times) . Enjoy the remainder and vow to make at least 1 litre’s worth next time!

Now, to share the friendly love, The Fairy Hobmother has agreed to grant a wish to one of my readers. Leave a comment and your kitchen gadget-y wish below, and you never know what might be *pinging* its way to you! Good luck, I’m off to raid the freezer!