Last week I received a request from a local restaurant to create a recipe for Champagne Raspberry Sorbet (to be served with a fresh lobster salad)–YUM!
I had a brief moment of befuddlement when it dawned on me that I didn’t own an ice cream maker, but I quickly realized that with a little bit of MacGyvering, I didn’t need one.
I busted out my refractometer (more on this later) and headed to my local Whole Foods to pick up some raspberries and a bottle of bubbly.
After making the sorbet mixture, I made sure to test its sugar content with my refractometer, a handy tool that measures the sugar content (Brix) of liquids. This is a very important step in sorbet making because in order for your sorbet to set nicely (neither rock hard nor soupy), your mixture needs to have a 30-31 Brix measurement.
If you don’t have a refractometer, don’t fret. You can always use an egg. Yes, an egg! How? Simply drop a clean, fresh egg (fat side down) into your sorbet mixture.
- If a nickel-size portion of the egg sits above the liquid, then the Brix measurement is correct.
- If the egg doesn’t show at all, you need to add more simple syrup.
- If the egg shows too much, then there is too much sugar. You’ll need to add more water or fruit.
OR, you can just use my recipe below 🙂
Champagne Raspberry Sorbet
Ingredients
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 12 ounces raspberries fresh
- 1 lime
- 1 cup champagne opened 30 minutes prior to using
Directions
- Combine the sugar and ½ cup of water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil for one minute. Stir in the honey and remove from the heat.
- Add raspberries to the blender. Pour the simple syrup over the berries and turn the blender on high speed for 30 seconds to puree the mixture. Pour the raspberry mixture through a strainer to remove the seeds. Discard the seeds. Stir in the juice of 1 lime and the champagne. Pour into a freezer proof dish. Cover with lid or foil and place in freezer overnight.