5 Ingredients or Fewer

Peachy Buttermilk Sherbet

by:
August  1, 2016
4.6
5 Ratings
Peachy Buttermilk Sherbet
Photo by Bobbi Lin
  • Makes 3 cups
What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1/3 cup (66 grams) sugar
  • 3 cups (12 ounces/340 grams) peeled peach slices
  • 1 to 3 tablespoons peach preserves or sugar (optional)
Directions
  1. Freeze the peach slices on a shallow baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. Stir the 1/3 cup sugar into the buttermilk and set aside for a few minutes to dissolve the sugar. Pour the buttermilk mixture into a foil- or plastic wrap-lined loaf or other shallow pan; cover and freeze until solid.
  2. Dump the frozen peach slices into a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Assuming the peaches are rock hard, let them sit for 15 minutes so they are slightly less than rock hard, meanwhile leaving the frozen buttermilk in the freezer. After 15 minutes, remove and cut the frozen buttermilk into chunks the size of ice cubes. Add chunks to the processor and process until the mixture is completely blended and lightened in color. You will need to stop the processor from time to time to scrape the mixture from the side of the bowl or spread and redistribute it to better engage with the processor blades; inspect for lumps of peach when you do this. When the sherbet is smooth and free of lumps, taste and pulse in preserves or additional sugar, to taste, if necessary.
  3. Serve the sherbet immediately or scrape it into a container and store in the freezer until needed. Sherbet will retain its scoopable and spoonable texture for 2 or 3 hours before it hardens. Once it’s hard, you will need to soften it for 10 to 20 minutes in the fridge before serving, or zap it for a few seconds at a time in a microwave on defrost.
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Alice Medrich
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!).

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20 Reviews

DoubleK
DoubleK April 3, 2023
Very straight forward recipe - substituted a 4 Fruit frozen pack of Peach, Strawberry, Pineapple, Mango and doubled recipe; making two separate batches (all the Ninja would hold); I did add roughly a tablespoon of sugar at the end of the blend "to taste"; preserves probably would have been better. Consistency, taste test, quality control (by my wife) all passed our standards. We will be serving this to guests.
 
Jordan T.
Jordan T. July 19, 2020
I love this sherbet, and have made it twice this summer thus far. The tang of the buttermilk is great, and I find it sweet enough without adding the optional preserves or sugar. I appreciated the simple trick of freezing the sweetened buttermilk in ice cube trays. Not having any peach schnapps handy, I tried vodka and that worked in keeping leftovers scoopable without ice crystals forming
 
L K.
L K. November 7, 2016
This sherbet was so good & easy! I semi froze the sliced peaches & chilled the rest of the ingredients. Then pureed the frozen peaches in the VitaMix till smooth but not aerated. Stirred the peaches into the buttermilk mixture till well blended. Churned in my Cuisinart Ice Cream maker. Silky smooth delicious peach flavor. Can't wait to try other fruits.
 
Lin
Lin September 3, 2016
My peaches were not ripe enough when I started this recipe so I used frozen bananas instead. I put the buttermilk in an ice cube tray and froze. It was very good an I will make it again with ripe peaches but the banana was tasty.
 
ellemmbee
ellemmbee September 3, 2016
Peaches were disappointing and inconsistent this year where I live so I've made his twice with frozen sliced peaches. Delightful. The ice cube tray makes it quick and easy.
 
doced75
doced75 August 31, 2016
Why freeze any of it first? Why not combine the ingredients, then freeze the mixture?
 
ellemmbee
ellemmbee August 31, 2016
My guess is that combining the ingredients without freezing first would change the texture creating more ice crystals. This way, there are two advantages: you can eat it immediately and if you don't eat it all, the rest will freeze into a smoother sherbet.
 
Beverly C.
Beverly C. August 31, 2016
Could this be adapted for a Vitamix which makes ice cream instantly? I just got one but haven't made ice cream yet and am unsure how to convert recipes.
 
Rose W.
Rose W. August 18, 2016
I do this with frozen mango chunks instead of peaches, don't bother freezing the buttermilk, and add a pinch of cardamom powder, and call it a mango lassi. So good.
 
Sheila R.
Sheila R. August 5, 2016
Wonderful, delicious and so easy, used frozen mango, OMG! So good!
Next time I am going to use frozen banana, no sugar, maybe a drizzle of chocolate syrup on top. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
 
ellemmbee
ellemmbee August 5, 2016
I'm going to try adding 2-3 teaspoons of peach schnapps to the recipe to see if that keeps it from getting rock hard if not consumed all at once. Will report!
 
ellemmbee
ellemmbee August 18, 2016
Adding the peach schnapps did prevent rock hard sorbet. We didn't finish it all the first time and it held up well and seemed even better days later.
 
tucsonbabe
tucsonbabe August 3, 2016
Does the buttermilk have to be full fat? This is hard to get in some places.
 
Ascender
Ascender August 25, 2016
I'm going to make it with the best cultured buttermilk I can find. Flavor probably matters more than fat content in this recipe. My favorite buttermilk (in the US) is an artisanal culture made with 1% dairy.
 
BurgeoningBaker
BurgeoningBaker August 3, 2016
So... does the size of the loaf pan matter?
 
btglenn
btglenn August 3, 2016
This recipe also works with an ice-cream machine. Freeze the cut peaches, then chop them in your blender together with the buttermilk and sugar. Pour into your ice-cream container and process.
 
L K.
L K. October 31, 2016
Thank you! I like the sound of this method, going to give it a whirl ;)
 
judy
judy August 2, 2016
This sounds amazing. I'm 62 and just learning of the joys of buttermilk at my advanced age over the last year. So when I read buttermilk, I had to read the recipe. MMM. I have a question. Instead of freezing the buttermilk in one large piece in the pan, could you freeze it in ice cube trays to begin with. Save a step? I can only imagine how hard it would be to cut up the brick of buttermilk, and the mess it would make. (My right arm doesn't work very well, so I am always looking for kitchen shortcuts). I am going to give this a try. Peaches are just about perfect right now. Thanks for the recipe!
 
Rita G.
Rita G. August 2, 2016
That's a great idea, Judy. I think it will work very well. I'll try it tomorrow and let you know for sure. I just put the buttermilk in an ice cube tray to freeze.
 
Rita G.
Rita G. August 1, 2016
I'm eating this as I type this review...it is AMAZING! I used peaches I froze last week from an orchard five miles from here. I had no idea peach sherbert could be this easy and this good! I made it in our vitamix and it came out perfectly.