Mango lime sorbet, with a splash of Don Julio for good measure
Strawberry and mango sorbets
Gluten and dairy-free desserts are hard to come by – at least I don’t have many in my repertoire. So when Catherine suggested sorbet, I new this had to be one of my next culinary challenges. My friend Allison also is the inventor (as far as I know anyway) of the famous Mexican Beer Float, which is usually lemon-lime sorbet in a nice light Mexican beer, and she was thrilled about the prospect of them actually being consumed in Mexico. So I decided to give sorbet a whirl, and thought that mango sounded like the best flavor to start with. Mangoes are so creamy anyway that I figured it would be easier to achieve a creamy texture even without any actual cream AND without an ice-cream maker. And was it ever velvety and delicious.
Ingredients
3 large, Fresh, ripe mangoes, cubed
juice of about 1 lime
zest of 1/2 lime
simple syrup to taste (I used maybe 2/3 cup)
3 tbs tequila (I used Don Julio blanco)
I first made the simple syrup by combining 2/3 cup sugar with maybe 2/3 cup water and heating over the stove and stirring until the sugar had dissolved. Let it cool while you cut up the mangoes, which was probably my least favorite part because the mangoes were cold and I sliced my finger. Anyway. Put the mango in a blender with a few spoonfuls of simple syrup, juice from half the lime, the zest, and 2 tbs tequila. By the way – there is a reason for adding a bit of booze to sorbet – it freezes at a lower temperature and so it helps the sorbet stay slightly soft and less icy. Blend it until very smooth, and taste it to see if you need more sugar or lime – the amounts depend on how sweet the mangoes are and how sweet you like it. When you are happy with the flavor and it is blended smooth, place it in a tupperware or whatever container you plan to freeze it in. Now here is the trick to getting the right texture: you have to take it out once in a while and stir it up with a fork or a whisk, and then put it back in the freezer. Once it is just about frozen, take it out and put it all back in the blender and bend again until very smooth. Put it back in the freezer and let it freeze again. Once it is frozen completely the second time, you will notice that the texture is much smoother without the big ice chunks that were there after the first freeze. The strawberry sorbet was made the same way, just using frozen strawberries and grand mariner as the alcohol component.
sorbet mix ready to freeze
Mango sorbet
