Elle's Woodchuck Draft Cider Sorbet

In the event you weren't aware, I'm sorry to tell you our talented blogging friend Elle from Fresh New England is gone from our lives; she's sure left a big hole in our hearts. We'll all miss her, her posts, her wonderful recipes and her sense of humor.

In her honor, Dawn from Vanilla Sugar has asked Elle's friends and followers to join her in ElleAPalooza to make one of Elle's dishes. I chose one that, according to Elle, was THE most popular post in 2010. Yes, I'm aware sorbet is an unusual post for winter, but as you know, I live in Florida and sorbets and ice creams are good year round. Elle suggested this was a super dessert after a cookout, so if you're intrigued, you can save the recipe for summer.

Her sorbet is made with an ingredient I certainly didn't know anything about: Woodchuck hard cider. (Another blogger made her hard cider jelly using the same ingredient.....and as you'll have some bottles left over {It's sold here in a six pack} you might want to try this recipe as well; click HERE.) I'm not really a hard cider fan, but this product was easy enough to find in my market and after making it I have to agree with Elle....hard cider sorbet is a refreshing, albeit unusual, finale to a summer meal.

At the end of the post Elle typically added: 
But please do keep in mind that it has alcohol in it.  So be aware and remember the saying:  friends don’t let friends have too much sorbet and drive. ;)


Woodchuck Draft Cider Sorbet

Ingredients:
2 (12 oz) bottles of ice cold Woodchuck Cider 
2 tbsp sugar (If you've got superfine or castor sugar, it's especially good here for dissolving quickly. I used 3 tablespoons.)
1 tbsp lemon juice

Method:
In a medium bowl, whisk the cider, sugar and lemon juice. It will foam up a bit. Whisk completely dissolved.  Here's where you taste to see if you want more sugar, which I did. 
Make sure it's still cold (if not, refrigerate) and then freeze according to manufacturers instructions for your ice cream maker. Took me about 1/2 an hour in mine.

Spoon into a container and freeze to firm up. (Mine never got really hard. It was easy to scoop.)

If you don’t have an ice cream maker, just whisk it all together, pour it into a shallow container and freeze.  After it’s frozen, break it up into chunks and toss them into the food processor or blender till it’s smooth-but work quickly to prevent too much melting. 


Store any leftovers in a container in the freezer.