Mocha Sorbet

 

There are so many drippingly sweet things out there right now that are just delicious in desserts, or even just eaten by themselves to satisfy a sweet tooth. You want to be very careful, however, to avoid neglecting your old friend chocolate for the whole summer. Both you and the chocolate deserve better.

While it’s not hot outside as I’m writing this, it was recently and it could happen again any time, and this super-chocolatey, bitter-sweet Mocha Sorbet is a fabulous way to cool off, and to celebrate both summer and chocolate at the same time. Oh, also, you can celebrate your other great friend, coffee, while you’re at it.

Eating this sorbet is like eating the darkest chocolate, but somehow that chocolate was melted, then chilled to freezing, while still maintaining some of its meltiness. It really does make me think of a frozen café mocha espresso drink, but there’s no dairy here, just bittersweet chocolate, cocoa, and espresso.

Of course there’s plenty of sugar, too, which is not only necessary to make a palatable flavor, but also to get the appropriate scoop-able consistency. Water just won’t freeze into an ice cube with this much sucrose dissolved in it, and that’s what we want. The sorbet isn’t exactly creamy, but has the quickly-dissolving-on-your-tongue grainy texture of cocoa solids.

The darker the chocolate the more intense the sorbet, and I used a very dark one for mine. You could leave out the espresso and have a quite good bittersweet chocolate sorbet for sure, or, if you don’t want the caffeine, you could use a decaffeinated instant coffee or espresso. For me, coffee, chocolate and frozen dessert all in one modest scoop is what after dinnertime is all about, no matter what other fabulous sweet treats are out there. Come to think of it, I’ll take all of the above, please.

Mocha Sorbet

Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine

2 ½ cups water

1 ¼ cup sugar

½ cup cocoa powder

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons instant espresso powder

1. In a medium-size saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add the sugar and cocoa powder, whisking well to combine. Reduce the heat and boil gently for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

2. Remove from the heat. Stir in the chopped chocolate, vanilla, and espresso powder. Continue stirring until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour into a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until completely chilled.

3. When the mixture is very cold, freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions. The process is complete when the mixture appears like soft-serve ice cream in texture. Cover and freeze for at least an hour, or until firm.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Rich Chocolate Ice Cream, Chocolate Mint Ice Cream with Andes Mints

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