Adventures in Sorbet

On the boil

I’ve always associated sorbets with fruit/citrus flavors since they don’t contain dairy, so I was surprised to learn that a chocolate version existed—I always thought chocolate needed milk/cream or something similar. I hunted around, found this recipe over at Food52, and decided to give it a shot.

The next day—pudding!

It was dead easy. The bittersweet chocolate came in bars that broke into squares and the unsweetened chocolate* came in thin discs, so I didn’t need to chop anything. No corn starch à la Sicilian gelato, so no need to hit a certain temperature—just bring to a boil and count off the time. I used half water/half brewed coffee because the latter boosts chocolate flavor, and a full teaspoon of vanilla instead of a half-teaspoon because come on. I don’t have a regular blender, but my stick blender did a decent job zzz’ing things around.

 

The result was a thickish smooth liquid that chilled to a pudding. I honestly don’t believe the churn in my cheap countertop ice cream maker did much good—the sorbet thickened nicely, but softened in the time it took me to scoop it into a freezer container. After a night in the freezer, it hardened up—it has to sit out for a few minutes before I can scoop it. I am seriously tempted to buy a countertop gelato maker with a built-in chiller so that I can let the sorbet churn away for as long as it takes and still stay cold. A little incorporated air would improve matters. Here’s a short video of the churning process: Churning sorbet 

Despite all that, I consider the result a success.

The finished product

It’s essentially pure chocolate—what’s not to like? I’d like to try some enhancement next time, though. A shot of Cointreau or raspberry liqueur. Almond extract and chopped almonds. A swirl of peanut butter.

I was concerned about the use of water as the liquid because I feared lots of crunchy crystals, but I guess there was enough fat in the chocolate to keep things smooth.

*the recipe called for all bittersweet or semisweet, but I had unsweetened on hand and I like a deeper flavor, so I went with it.