Watermelon Ice Cream Cones

My latest edible craft? Watermelon Ice Cream Cones. 

Well, more like "Watermelon" Ice Cream Cones, since it's actually raspberry flavored, not watermelon. Come to think of it, it's sorbet, not ice cream. So I suppose it should be called "Watermelon" "Ice Cream" Cones with two sets of air quotes, but that seems a bit much. Let's stick with...

Watermelon Ice Cream Cones

Materials: 

• green ice cream cones (affiliate link here and throughout the post)
• white Wilton Candy Melts
• parchment paper
• raspberry or strawberry sorbet (buy it or make your own)
• mini chocolate chips

Steps:

Prepare the Candy Melts in a glass dish, following the instructions on the package. Dip the tops of the cones into the melted candy to coat the edges. 

Set them on a sheet of parchment paper to set up. 

Scoop sorbet into the cones. 

Press the mini chocolate chips into the sorbet. Put the cones in the freezer for at least 15 minutes to firm up, then serve. Delicious and perfect for summer!

Grapefruit Sorbet

We have a new juicer and it is awesome. We've been enjoying fresh orange juice, courtesy of our extremely prolific orange tree, for months. When our neighbors gave us grapefruits from their extremely prolific grapefruit tree, we popped them right in the juicer, added simple syrup and a little zest, and put it into our ice cream maker. The result? The most delicious sorbet ever. 

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Grapefruit Sorbet

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups hot water
• 1 1/2 cups grapefruit juice
• grapefruit zest

Combine the sugar and water, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Cool this mixture completely. Add the grapefruit juice and the zest to the cooled simple syrup and stir. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze until slushy (about 25 minutes). Transfer the slushy sorbet to a storage container or into popsicle molds, then freeze until it is firm (about 2 hours). Enjoy!

Orange Sherbet

Orange bread, orange sorbet... what else could I make with the many oranges from our tree? How about orange sherbet?!

I checked the recipe booklet that came with our ice cream maker. There was an orange sherbet recipe, but it called for melted orange juice concentrate instead of fresh juice. I turned to Google to read through some recipes. I'd planned to get a general idea of what goes into a sherbet then invent my own, but that was before I found Alton Brown's recipe for orange sherbet. We're big AB fans and I knew his recipe would be great.

I mixed up a batch and added it to the ice cream maker. Here are Steve and Trevor, checking on the progress of the sherbet:

And here is the finished sherbet. I realize that this photo looks like scrambled eggs, not sherbet, but you'll have to trust me. It was dark when I took the picture and my sherbet was melting rapidly, so I didn't take the time to take a proper picture.  

I decided to put the leftover sherbet into popsicle molds, which we enjoyed after dinner the following day. (Trevor was sick and stayed in jammies all day. This photo cracks me up, because it looks like the dinosaur is trying to eat the popsicle before Trevor does.)

Alton Brown's Orange Sherbet

                                   7 ounces sugar                                          1 tablespoon lemon juice
                                   1 1/2 tablespoons orange zest                   1 teaspoon vanilla extract
                                   1/4 teaspoon kosher salt                           1 1/2 cups very cold whole milk
                                   2 cups orange juice

In the bowl of a food processor combine all of the ingredients except the milk and process until the sugar is dissolved, approximately 1 minute. (I didn't use a food processor. I just stirred the ingredients in a bowl and the sugar dissolved just fine.) Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and whisk in the milk. Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator until the mixture reaches 40°F or below, approximately 1 hour.

Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and process until it is the consistency of soft serve ice cream. You may serve now or transfer to a lidded container and place in freezer until firm, approximately 3 hours.

Lemon and Orange Sorbets

You know what is REALLY good on a cold winter's day? Lemon sorbet. OK, it's good no matter what the season or temperature. My parents have a lemon tree, so we're blessed with tons of free lemons. I use them fresh, of course. I also freeze the juice and the zest so that I can have a supply year-round.

You know what else is REALLY good? Orange sorbet. Our orange tree is out of control this year, so I'm juicing and zesting oranges frequently too. 

You know what is REALLY hard to photograph on a dark winter's evening? Sorbet. Any flavor. 

(Lemon on the left; orange on the right.)

I love how easy it is to whip up a quick sorbet with the ice cream machine. I also love that I can control the amount of sugar I add.

To make lemon sorbet, I combine two cups of simple syrup (equal parts water and sugar, boiled, then cooled) with 1 1/2 c. lemon juice and 2 T lemon zest. To make orange sorbet, I combine one cup of simple syrup with 2 1/2 cups of orange juice and 2 T. orange zest. After about 20 minutes in the ice cream maker, it's ready to eat. Delicious!