"champagne" sorbet

There is almost 2 feet of snow outside where I am(stupid blizzard) but I still wanted to make sorbet anyway. Frozen desserts are timeless, in my opinion, even if it is frozen outside.

I was really afraid my home would lose electricity due to the blizzard and the sorbet would meet a fate similar to that of Frosty the Snowman- melting. But thank goodness the frozen dessert gods were in my favor this time because the loss of electricity never happened!

I figured using white sparkling grape juice(the "champagne") would taste really sweet and delicious- and it is! This is also my first time using my ice cream maker(don't worry, it makes sorbets too) since I got it for Christmas. My dad it was so incredibly easy to make your own sorbet- and he's right!

The bowl where the frozen dessert in question is churned had to be frozen for 16-24 hours in the freezer before using it for the first time but the wait was worth it.

Inspiration for this recipe from http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/champagne_sorbet/, which used grapefruit juice and half the amount of the champagne I used. But I figured, why muddle the flavors of sparkling white grape juice even more by adding another juice into the mix?

I also didn't have light corn syrup but I did have honey on hand, which is a good substitute for light corn syrup. As for zesting the lemon, there are tutorials online on how to do it(that's how I learned) but I grated the lemon against a cheese grater to get the zest.

Did you know a cheese grater can also grate stale bread to turn it into breadcrumbs and turn cauliflower into a paleo-friendly rice substitute? I didn't until this recipe- and that's your kitchen hack for the day!

Of course, if you don't have an ice cream maker, you're pretty much out of luck for this recipe- you need the ice cream maker. I used the Cuisinart brand, not that ball where you put ice, rock salt, and your liquid in, and you shake it up vigorously. Even though I did have rock salt on hand...but that ice cream ball maker is for kids, in my opinion. At least it teaches them how ice cream/sorbets are made.

I bought a strainer at a fancy cooking store for a failed macaron recipe but it turns out it strains more than just flour- it strains lemon zest too! The holes in a colander would be too big to just strain out the zest.

You will need:

For the cooking equipment:

An ice cream maker(duh!)
A medium-to-large saucepan
A large bowl
A strainer(to strain the lemon zest)
A 1-quart ice cream tub to store the sorbet

For the sorbet:

Makes 1 quart

3 cups of champagne or white sparkling grape juice, divided into two- 1 1/2 cup portions
1 cup of granulated sugar
1 tbsp. of honey
1 tsp. of lemon zest
1/4 cup of lemon juice

1. Put 1 1/2 cups of "champagne", sugar, honey, and lemon zest in the saucepan.
2. Bring mixture in saucepan to a boil.
3. Once the mixture is boiling, continue boiling it until all the granulated sugar dissolves. You can tell when the sugar is dissolved when you no longer see any white powder(the sugar) in the bottom of the saucepan. The sugar boils away sooner than you think.
4. Remove saucepan from heat. Pour contents of saucepan into strainer and back into the large bowl to strain out all the lemon zest. At the end of the straining process, you should only end up with only a liquid.
5. Add the other 1 1/2 cups of "champagne" and lemon juice into the large bowl with the liquid. Mix everything in the bowl together.
6. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let it chill in the refrigerator overnight.
7. Once the liquid is chilled, churn the mixture into ice cream maker, according to the ice cream maker's manual. According to my ice cream maker's manual, you're supposed to turn the assembled machine on and then pour the mixture into the machine. Then you let it churn for no longer than 20 minutes or until the mixture is turned into the slushy, icy consistency of a sorbet. Again, YMMV(that's Internet-speak for "Your Mileage May Vary").
8. Put the sorbet into a 1-quart ice cream tub. Close the tub and let the sorbet freeze in the freezer for at least 6 hours.
9. Bon appetit!