Lemon Sorbet in A Lemon Amalfi Style

Recipe: Lemon Sorbet in a Lemon Recipe »

Cool, zesty and with a gorgeous presentation, this lemon sorbet is served inside real lemons for the perfect spring or summer dessert. Make it ahead of time and keep it in the freezer. Plus I've got tips to make a gorgeously smooth sorbet, even if you don't have an ice cream maker!

About This Lemon Sorbet in a Lemon

This lemon sorbet recipe makes the most delicious zingy, tingly lemon sorbet with REAL lemon flavour! Plus you do not need an ice cream maker to make smooth, silky sorbet and I'll show you how.

I lost one of the pieces to my kitchenaid ice cream machine and while I could just replace it I haven't gotten around to it! So basically I try and develop recipes where you don't need an ice cream maker beause I figure not everyone has an ice cream maker.

Video How To Make Lemon Sorbet

Video: How To Make Lemon Sorbet - no ice cream maker needed!

Tips For Making Lemon Sorbet in a Lemon

1- With this lemon sorbet, we first steep the mixture with lots of lemon peel (two lemon's worth!). This gives the sorbet an incredible depth of flavour. Just peel two lemons using a citrus peeler. Tip: you want a citrus peeler that only peels the fragrant zest, not the bitter white pith. This is the one I use.

2 - Then we add 1 tablespoon of finely grated lemon zest before freezing just to give it that final lemony push!

3 - The most important thing when making ice cream or sorbet without an ice cream machine is inhibit ice crystal formation which can make it icy (icy is great for granita but not sorbet). We use two ingredients to help discourage the formation of ice crystals: glucose syrup or corn syrup and limoncello or vodka or an egg white. Just a bit of each will make your sorbet smooth and scoopable!

4 - Make sure to zest the lemons before juicing them as that makes things easier. You can also ream the lemons that you are serving them in and then use that juice. Make sure to strain it to separate the juice from the pulp and seeds.

5 - For ice creams and sorbets you want a sturdy tub that won't crack as freezing makes plastics brittle. I use an ice cream tub like this which is very thick and designed to be used in the freezer.

6 - Always let your homemade sorbets and ice creams ripen in the fridge for 20 minutes before serving them so that they are easily scoopable. This goes for ones made in the ice cream maker too.

7 - You can also fill the frozen lemons with the sorbet and keep it in the freezer ready to serve.

Ingredients for Lemon Sorbet

Water - use filtered water Caster or superfine sugar - to sweeten those lemons and give it balance

Lemon zest - We are using strips of lemon zest to infuse and then we remove them. Then we add some finely grated lemon zest.

Glucose syrup or corn syrup - this is to inhibit the ice crystals forming. This can be found in the baking or cake aisle at the supermarket. It really comes in handy when making candy or toffee apples and lasts for ages so it's good to have in your pantry. Tip: wipe the rim of the jar with a wet paper towel after use so that the lid comes off easily the next time! The jar packaging isn't great.

Lemon juice - You can use any sort of lemons for this from Eureka lemons to Meyer lemons. Freshly squeezed lemon juice is best for that true lemon flavour. I'm sure you can make it with bottled although I haven't tried it.

Limoncello or 1 egg white - You can use limoncello, vodka or an egg white. I use my homemade Limoncello which is an authentic Italian recipe (and I swear produces the best Limoncello!)

Lemon Sorbet in a Lemon Recipe

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Recipe Overview

Preparation time: 10 minutes plus 30 minutes steeping and overnight freezing

Cooking time: 5 minutes

Makes: 4 lemons

Ingredients Needed

• 1.5 cups/375ml/13flozs water
• 1 cup/220g/7.8 caster or superfine sugar -Strips of zest from 2 lemons
• 50g/1.7ozs glucose syrup or corn syrup
• 235ml/8.3flozs lemon juice (save lemon halves to serve the sorbet in)
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon Limoncello or 1 egg white (optional, see note)

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1 - Place the water and the sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 4-5 minutes stirring to dissolve the sugar. The syrup should be clear. Turn off the heat and place the strips of zest in the syrup and let steep for 30 minutes. Stir in the glucose syrup, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cool completely and stir in limoncello or egg white mixing well and place in a container to freeze overnight or for 6-8 hours.

Step 1b Ice Cream Maker - If using an ice cream maker, follow manufacturer's directions to churn the sorbet and then freeze. You won't need to do step 2, go to step 3.

Step 2 - The next day sit the container on the bench for 10 minutes. Break up the lemon ice with a dinner knife or fork and place in a blender or Thermomix. Blend until smooth. Thermomix: 30 seconds, speed #9. Place the container in the freezer until needed.

Step 3 - When you want to serve the lemon sorbet, place the container in the fridge for 20 minutes. The texture of the sorbet will then be scoopable.

Step 4 - To fill the lemons, take one lemon and cut across 2/3 down so that you have a deeper cup and then a lid. Using a citrus reamer carefully remove pulp and juice making sure not to break the skin on the base and the lid. Scoop sorbet into the lemon halves and freeze. When ready to serve place lemon lid on top along with lemon leaves or a mint leaf.

Substitution notes and ingredients:

Lemons can be subbed for limes or grapefruit.

Glucose syrup helps to inhibit ice crystals. You can also use corn syrup instead.

You can replace the limoncello with vodka or use 1 egg white. This is especially useful for a smooth, creamy texture without the use of an ice cream maker. Sorbets made using an ice cream maker don't need this.

Personal Note

It's definitely getting to be ice cream or sorbet weather now that things are finally warming up. On the day that I made this I had a really busy day filming and writing and I had said yes to too many things and that meant that I was stretched thin. I didn't have enough time to even have a drink so I made myself a matcha latte to help my flagging energy levels even though it was 5pm and late for a caffeinated drink.

Then I reached over to switch the camera off and accidentally bumped my matcha latte.

Whoosh! Green latte all over my dress and the kitchen island. Just brilliant.

Gathering the last of my patience and will I cleaned it up and then Mr NQN and I took the dogs for a walk. It was dinner time by the time we got back and it was then that I received a text. An ice cream media send out was just delivered. I went to the front door and looked down. There was nothing there. I looked closer at the text and it said that it was delivered to number 6 of our street, not our house number.

I wondered whether I should just leave the ice cream there but then I thought about the carbon footprint of an additional delivery so I decided to go and pick it up.

"I just want dinner and a lie down," I said to Mr NQN while pulling on my coat.

I reached the house and their door was wide open. I called out and a man popped his head around the corner.

"Hi! Did you just get a delivery of ice cream?" I asked.

"Haha yeah I did!" the man answered.

"Did you eat it?" I asked laughing.

It turned out that he hadn't eaten it and he put it all back together for me which was nice of him. The ice cream was way too melted to eat it but I was happy just with this lemon sorbet!

So tell me Dear Reader, do you have an ice cream maker? What is your favourite flavour of sorbet? And would you have gone to collect the ice cream and if it were delivered to you, would you have eaten it?