Tag: Frozen dessert

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Basic Milk Lemon Sherbet

Basic Milk Lemon Sherbet is an easy dessert for a hot day. It takes a little bit of planning ahead, but yields a frozen dessert that is perfect for those summer nights. (“Tell me more, tell me more,” chant my back up singers.)

Jump to Recipe

As I am writing this I have a new variation of Basic Milk Lemon Sherbet in my freezer. Luckily this is not the first time I’ve made this, so I can confidently say that the original recipe works and is delicious. I can easily imagine pouring some lemoncello on top of it and garnishing with a fresh berry and sprig of mint for a fancy cocktail dessert.

While I was typing out the recipe, I started thinking of the word “basic”. In my world “basic” means a jumping off place. It’s the foundation of which to build other things.

What is this recipe? How does it work? Why does it work? Doesn’t adding lemon to milk just make sour milk? Does the freezing prevent the milk from curdling? Maybe it’s the sugar component?

Scoop of Basic Milk Lemon Sherbet in a blue clay bowl.

I decided to call my mom, she majored in home economics in college and has been cooking a lot longer than I have.

“Mom,” I implored. “I have a question.”

At this point, I’m sure she was not surprised. Most of my phone calls to my mom start out with “I have a question.” or “You aren’t going to believe this.” We’re going to assume that this is endearing and not annoying.

“This recipe says “basic” and to me that means that I should be able to change it. I was thinking about adding some herbs into it, but I don’t want chunks. How should I do this?”

She had me go over the recipe with her. We discussed where would be the proper place to add the lavender and mint.

“Should I make a simple syrup and do it that way?” I asked.

We discussed that option. The problem is that simple syrup adds additional liquid. Would that mean that the milk had to be cut down?

Ok, what about infusing the milk? Heating the milk might change the texture.

What about letting herbs soak in the milk overnight? It defeats the purpose of getting the Basic Lemon Milk Sherbet variation made today.

We then hit on the idea of trying to infuse the lemon juice. I tore my mint and lavender to hopefully expose more of the oil and put them into a pan. I got the lemon juice out of the fridge and started to pour a half cup.

Most of my lemon juice was used in canning strawberry jam. I only had a quarter of a cup.

I sighed and went back into the refrigerator to get out the lime juice.

The citrus juice and and herbs gently heated on my favorite burner, while I continued to talk to my mom.

“Do you think you could use things that weren’t lemon juice?” I asked.

“Like what?” She replied.

“I don’t know. Like I have this raspberry iced tea I made. Could I use that?”

“I don’t know why not. Or coffee and make a mocha thing, maybe.”

By this time the ideas were swirling. Raspberries from the garden, pears, ground cherries. I’ll have figs soon. Next year we are hoping for peaches and plums in addition to the apples and cherries.

As visions of sherbet danced in my head, I looked out the window and saw the big “S” shed.

Above is a picture of the shed from when we first moved in. We painted, repaired and re-roofed since this picture was taken. We mounted a giant red “S” to the side. (Which is why we call it the Big “S” shed.)

In this picture, notice the sliver of light coming from the back view. This window opens up and latches to the soffit. The prior owners used the shed as a dog kennel.

Conversations with Lois and Verna (sweet elderly neighbors) revealed that the owners before that used this shed as a farmer’s market stand. What is now my neighbor’s fence was a cow pasture. The owners sold produce from the window.

Perhaps some day when I am done working or when the kids all grow up and leave the nest, we will turn it back into a farm stand in order to sell fruit, jam, and baked goods.

And maybe if the stars align, we will sell basic milk lemon sherbet custom blended for whatever is ripe.

***Update: The Lavender and Mint infused Lemon/Lime Milk Sherbet is delicious. It’s perfectly tart with a faint herby whisper. Enough to let you know this is no longer basic, but without the punch of old lady lavender.

The Recipe:

Original Recipe for Basic Lemon Milk Sherbet

Basic Lemon Milk Sherbet

An easy and refreshing treat for a hot summer day
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Freezing Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 15 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • 3/4 cup Sugar
  • few grains Salt
  • 2 cups Milk
  • 1/2 cup Lemon Juice

Instructions
 

  • Blend milk, sugar and salt until sugar dissolves.
  • Add lemon juice.
  • Pour into 9×13 pan and place in freezer, uncovered.
  • Stir every half hour until frozen. (about 4 hours).

Notes

This is an easy basic recipe that demands further experimentation.  Try adding fresh herbs for a palate cleanser between courses.  After it’s set, mix in white chocolate for a special treat.  When frozen, add to pie crust and top with whipped cream or meringue.  
Keyword dessert recipe, Easy recipe, frozen dessert, lemon, sherbet

For more delicious dessert recipes check out: Secret Rhubarb Dessert Recipe, Any Flavor (Raspberry)Pastel Party Pie, and Snow Ice Cream

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Tricky Orange Dessert

Since it’s October and Halloween is approaching, I thought it would be fun to present you with a series of seasonal treats.  You may have noticed this in the last few weeks with the Butterscotch Bars, the Ribbon Candy Bars, the Family Favorite Gingersnaps, and the Applesauce Donuts.  But you know, the saying is “trick or treat”, so it’s only fair if I present you with a very tricky sort of recipe.

This is not saying that the recipe is complicated to make.  I’m not actually sure that it is.

It’s not tricky in the way that the ingredients are hard to come by.  This recipe calls for things that you can find at any grocery store and even most gas stations.  

And I’m not going to tell you that this recipe is great and then it turns out like Egg Foo Yung.  I’m not that kind of mean.

This is another one of those recipes that is a list of very simple ingredients that can go very, very wrong like it did for me.

Ok, so here’s the thing.  In real life my job is communication.  I make sure that people are not only in the same book, but also on the same page.  I outline steps in a basic way realizing that the common sense and logic that seems obvious to me isn’t obvious to everyone else around me.  It is all based on experience.

This is why I can easily take a recipe that is supposed to be cake and make something similar to the original intention of the cake.  I have followed the process before.  I’m familiar with the steps that go into it and I understand which combinations of ingredients and techniques will produce a light and flavorful cake. 

When confronted, however, with ingredients that are not as familiar to me, my experience fails me.  My common sense is no longer common.  My logic takes me as far as it can.  I’m going to talk through my process so you can see how I got to my results.  Help me find the flaws in my logic.

The ingredients are 2 3 oz packages of orange Jell-O, 2 cups of water, 1 pint of orange sherbet and 1 can of mandarin oranges, but substitute frozen orange juice if you have no sherbet.  

All Jell-O recipes call for the cook to dissolve the Jell-O in boiling water. I boiled the two cups of water, poured it over the Jell-O powder and stirred until the Jell-O dissolved into the water.

Next, I stirred the sherbet into the hot Jell-O juice.  When that was mostly mixed, I added the can of drained oranges.  I stirred it all together.

That’s when the questions started coming in.  Was this supposed to go into the freezer or the refrigerator?  Did the Jell-O have enough hold to firm melted sherbet?  How could frozen orange juice impart similar flavor profiles as orange sherbet?   Sherbet is sweet and creamy.  Orange juice is acidic and stringent.

It seemed obvious that the frozen ingredients in the dessert implied that it belonged in the the freezer. So I froze it.

Thinking about this now, I realize that perhaps the ingredients were supposed to be layered.  Clear Jell-O with oranges on top of frozen sherbet in a mold would be beautiful.  Frozen orange juice still makes no sense.  The idea of biting into a chunk of frozen orange juice gives me canker sores.

Perhaps this was all supposed to go in a pie shell?

I served it.  We like oranges.  We like dessert.  Orange sherbet never lasts long at our house.  We didn’t care for Orange Dessert.  This sat in the freezer untouched after that first small serving.  The texture was weird.  The sum of the parts was greater than the whole.

If you have an idea of what I should’ve done to improve this recipe, please let me know.

The recipe:

Orange Dessert

2 3oz Packages Orange Jell-O
2 Cups Water
1 pt Orange Sherbet or 2 cans Frozen Orange Juice
1 can Mandarin Oranges

If you want these flavors without the confusion, try Fluffy Orange Salad and Old Movies.

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Any Flavor (Raspberry)Pastel Party Pie

Our house has been busy lately.  We’ve had people in and out for the past month and a half.  Every guest needs to leave with a full belly.  The only exception was my husband’s brother’s family and that was because they were headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. (It is their natural habitat, you know.)

All of these guests give me good excuses to try out “new” recipes.  And the house really likes having visitors. It just seems happy when it’s full of people.

When my in-laws were here, I broke out the leftover Raspberry Pastel Party Pie.  It needed to get eaten up.  After I served the creamy pink creation (without the whipped cream that it should have), I was in the kitchen putting away the other leftovers.  My father-in-law entered the kitchen and pointed at the pie plate with his empty plate. “You know, you could give us this recipe.”  “Oh!  You like this one?  I’ll make sure you get it.”

Things being what they were on that occasion, I didn’t end up giving it to him, so I thought I would quickly post it so I can still look like the perfect daughter-in-law.

I used raspberry Jell-O to make this super easy pie.  Since it was my first time, I made it very plain, but it’s easy to make more exciting.  Adding raspberries would make it divine.  I can also imagine it with sliced  bananas, strawberry Jell-O, and strawberry ice cream.  Or maybe a gingersnap crust with orange jello, and pineapple sherbet?  Chocolate cookies with strawberry Jell-O for Valentine’s Day?  I bet there is even an option for layering it.  Really, you are only limited by your imagination.  You could even use unflavored gelatin and personalize it further.  I’m wondering how something like wine or beer would be in this concoction.

If you try this, please let me know in the comments.  I’d love to hear what combinations you come up with.

The Recipe:

For other recipes I’ve served to my parents-in-law, check out Blueberry Salad Mold, Oven Stew, and Extra Special Biscuits (but I put some figs and green onions in the ones I served them).

Jell-O and Ice Cream Pie recipe