Author Notes
Sensational Strawberry Sorbet is child’s play. It takes fewer minutes (not counting freezing time) than it would take you to go out and buy it. This is a perfect recipe for party leftovers, or for berries that are still really delicious but less-than-perfect looking. Sweetening the sorbet with preserves instead of sugar produces a smoother sorbet with a more complex berry flavor. Serve it plain or paired with a scoop of rich vanilla ice cream or a little whipped cream for contrast. —Alice Medrich
Continue After Advertisement
Ingredients
- Sorbet
-
1 pound
(4 cups) ripe, flavorful strawberries
-
1/2 cup
plus 2 tablespoons strawberry (or raspberry) preserves
-
Pinch of salt
-
2 teaspoons
fresh lemon juice, or to taste
-
1/3 cup
water
- Equipment
-
Food processor or blender
Directions
-
Rinse and hull the berries and put them in a food processor or blender with 1/2 cup of the preserves and the salt. Purée until smooth. Add the lemon juice and water and pulse to mix. Taste and add the remaining jam as necessary for sweetness and adjust the lemon juice and salt if necessary. The purée should taste a little bit sweeter than you think it should.
-
Scrape the mixture into a shallow pan, cover, and freeze until hard, 3 to 4 hours.
-
Break the frozen mixture into chunks with a fork and process in the food processor or blender until there are no more frozen pieces. Continue to process, stopping to redistribute the mixture from time to time, until it is smooth and creamy and lightened in color. It may be frozen enough to serve right out of the food processor, or you can return it to the freezer until needed. If the sorbet freezes too hard, let it soften in the fridge for about 15 minutes, or carefully soften it in the microwave on the defrost setting, a few seconds at a time.
My career was sparked by a single bite of a chocolate truffle, made by my Paris landlady in 1972. I returned home to open this country’s first chocolate bakery and dessert shop, Cocolat, and I am often “blamed” for introducing chocolate truffles to America. Today I am the James Beard Foundation and IACP award-winning author of ten cookbooks, teach a chocolate dessert class on Craftsy.com, and work with some of the world’s best chocolate companies. In 2018, I won the IACP Award for Best Food-Focused Column (this one!).
See what other Food52ers are saying.