Cranberry
Fresh cranberries are a seasonal treat, so it was time to create a sherbet with them.
As I was rummaging through the freezer, I found part of a bag of cranberries leftover from some Thanksgiving cooking a few weeks ago. It was also time to make some ice cream, so I decided to use the cranberries up in a sherbet. Sherbets helps the flavor of fruit to really shine since they're not heavy on sugar, which seemed appropriate here. On top of that, I've been seeing a few recipes for chocolate and cranberry so I thought some brownies mixed in would serve as a nice complement.
Rating: 3 scoops
While delicious, this sherbet ended up being too tart for my liking. I knew going in that there would be some tartness and hoped that the sugar would help temper it, but that wasn't enough. As a result, each bite was a little bitter. Adding more sugar wouldn't help here as the sherbet would turn into a soupy mess, but a dash of honey might do the trick in the future. The chewy brownies were as delicious as other times I've used them and were a delicious addition, especially considering I had extras that I could munch on!
As usual with sherbets, I started with making a cranberry puree. I cooked the cranberries to soften them and then blend into a puree. Cranberry skins are tough and there are a lot of them! A pass through the strainer was necessary to filter out the skins and I barely had enough cranberry puree for use in the sherbet.
From there, the sherbet came together quickly. The cranberry puree was mixed with some tangy buttermilk and then added to the cooled base of dairy and sugars. The resulting color was as vibrant as the cranberries and carried all the way through to the final scoop.
For the brownies, I made the brownies that I last made for my Mint Brownie ice cream earlier this year. It follows a typical brownie recipe, but they're slightly underbaked to ensure they aren't rock solid when you try to eat them straight from the freezer in the ice cream. The best part (at least for me!) is that it makes more than you could ever put into a single quart of ice cream, so the leftovers make a great dessert over the next few weeks!
This sherbet was inspired by Hello, My Name is Ice Cream.