Cranberry & Raspberry sorbet and…no-fuss frozen dessert ideas.
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People may think I love to spend all day in the kitchen creating desserts, but some days I simply don’t. I have people coming over for dinner and I’m just as stuck as many people are on what to serve. This is not because I don’t have ideas – I have oodles of those – but time is not always my friend so, I make it look and taste great without too much fuss. Prime example: Scooped ice-cream on circles of melted chocolate encrusted with a toasted nut! Simply melt a dark, milk or white chocolate, spread about a teaspoon onto a parchment lined cookie sheet to create a thin 2″ circle, and transfer to the fridge to harden. Scoop mini balls of ice cream with a Parisian scoop if you have one, plop on top of one of the chocolate discs and place a second disc on top make mini ice cream sandwiches in a pinch. Pop back in the freezer until ready to serve with a glass of after dinner liqueur. Get creative with flavors. Cherry ice cream with dark chocolate and almond discs. Chocolate or espresso ice cream with milk chocolate and toasted hazelnut discs, or my favorite, pistachio and dark chocolate and simple vanilla ice cream. Have some fun with these.
Here’s another idea. Take some sponge cake, or leftover pound cake, slice thinly and place onto a parchment lined baking sheet. I like to take a chocolate or vanilla cake, beat my favorite ice cream in my kitchen aid with a paddle attachment until soft and smooth, and then spread it across the base layer of cake. Stud with fresh or frozen berries and top with the second layer of cake. The cake can be drizzled with a little Grand Marnier or favorite tipple of choice. Allow to harden in the freezer and then cut into slices. Serve.
Now for a quick recipe: Cranberry, Raspberry & Orange Sorbet.
1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
2/3 cup water
8 oz cranberries
4 oz raspberries
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp limoncello, triple sec, grand marnire or cointreua
1. In a medium saucepan, heat the sugar with the water then add the cranberries and raspberries.
2. Cover, and cook on a simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the cranberries are softened.
3. Remove from heat and let the berries sit until room temperature, covered.
4. Once the cranberries have cooled, puree the berries with all their liquid along with the lemon and the orange juice and the liqueur.
5. Chill for at least 4 hours, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
The ice bowl is so easy to make and I have been making it for years. At Christmas time I stud it with cranberries, sprigs of holly and give it a festive feel. The idea is not mine; I got it years ago from Darina Allen’s Book Simply Delicious. She very kindly allowed me to use it in my upcoming cookbook and here it is now. Simple and show-stopping.
To make a Ballymaloe Ice Bowl: Take two bowls, one about double the capacity of the other. Half fill the big bowl with cold water. Float the second bowl inside the first. Weight it down with water or ice cubes until the rims are level. Place a square of fabric on top and secure it with a strong rubber band or string under the rim of the lower bowl, as one would tie on a jam pot cover. Adjust the small bowl to a central position. The cloth holds it in place. Put the bowls onto a Swiss roll tin and place in a deep freeze, if necessary readjusting the position of the small bowl as you put it in. After 24 hours or more take it out of the deep freeze.
Remove the cloth and leave for 15-20 minutes, by which time the small bowl should lift out easily. Then try to lift out the ice bowl, in which case it will slip out easily. If it isn’t, then just leave for 5 or 10 minutes more: don’t attempt to run it under the hot or even cold tap, or it may crack. If you are in a great rush, the best solution is to wring out a tea-towel in hot water and wrap that around the large bowl for a few minutes. Altogether, the best course of action is to perform this operation early in the day and then fill the ice bowl with scoops of ice-cream, so that all you have to do when it comes to serving the ice-cream is to pick up the ice bowl from the freezer and place it on the serving dish to catch any drips.
At Ballymaloe, Myrtle Allen surrounds the ice bowl with vine leaves in summer, scarlet Virginia creeper leaves in Autumn and red-berried holly at Christmas. However you present it, ice-cream served in a bowl of ice like this usually draws gasps of admiration when you bring it to the table.
In the restaurant we make a new ice bowl every night, but at home when the dessert would be on the table for barely half an hour, it should be possible to use the ice bowl several times. As soon as you have finished serving, give the bowl a quick wash under the cold tap and get it back into the freezer again. This way you can often get 2 or 3 turns from a single bowl. One more point: don’t leave a serving spoon resting against the side of the bowl or it will melt a notch in the rim.
Presentation can be such great fun. Pull out all the glassware, pop round scoops of gelato in mini waffle cones and serve from liqueur glasses, martini and wine glasses.
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