Hey there Ice Cream Club! Sometimes I think I should be Sorbet Club. There have been weeks where I made nothing but sorbets, mostly because I got hold of a watermelon. Watermelons are an excellent base for sorbets, and I use them as much as possible. When I make a watermelon sorbet base, I simply puree watermelon and add a small amount of simple syrup made of sugar and water. I’ve substituted cane sugar syrup for the sugar with great results, too.
The sorbet I made this week added a couple of extra dimensions. First, I added fresh mint. Full disclosure, I hate fresh mint. I also love cilantro, which I think is the tradeoff. But other people in my life love fresh mint. Most if not all of them. I used about a handful, and it was what I’d use again.
Second, I made the simple syrup with some frozen cranberries I got for Thanksgiving. It added a nice tart little kick. Finally, I added a whole cucumber. I peeled it and removed the seeds, and then pureed it with the melon. It produced a really nice mix, and worked great in my Hallowe’en molds.
For Day 11, I made a gothy shrine, with some hearts and roses. These are all made of the sorbet. My roommate added some accessories and fabric, and we have candles to spare. There’s a painting in the background of several of the pictures, which is something I painted.
For Day 12, I used the same sorbet in a couple of different witch hat molds. Probably not my best work. The hat molds are cute, and I’m looking to do them again. We have this weird little toy rat with a skull on its head that sits near our front door. It’s one of many things that are just here, without much explanation.
On Day 13, today, I did fun spiders. Everyone loves fun spiders! What are they made of? The same sorbet. I actually wanted to use the spiders pictured as my backups, or as a rival breed to what I intended to be the stars of the pic: some chocolate coated ice cream spiders. I put a thin layer of chocolate in the spider molds, and then filled them with a new flavour: lemon cranberry. I’ll get to the flavour, and will likely have it show up in pictures in the coming week, but the spiders were either not frozen enough, too thin on the chocolate, removed badly, or in need of a fully sealed chocolate coat. Because none of them made it out of the mold intact. I had to eat them all.
At least the ice cream was super good. I’ve enjoyed messing around with some alternatives to vanilla extract in my basic recipe, and this time I tried lemon extract. I took a gamble and did a 1 for 1 sub, using a teaspoon of lemon extract, and it paid off. The ice cream tasted amazing. I also did a really jammy cranberry coulis, which I mixed in right after churning. It added a fun texture, and a little extra bit of tartness, but most of all, it gave the ice cream a cool pinkish ripple. I was really hoping that pinkish white colour would spill out of a squished or chopped chocolate spider, at least on camera, not directly out of the mold. Maybe with some more practice.
I’m going to wrap it up quick, Ice Cream Club. I’ve been doing some creative writing this week too, and my fingers are tired. I do have plans to make a few ice creams this week, and have my eye on pumpkin spice, mocha, and some little boxes of smarties I’ve got. I’ve also got some ruby chocolate left, and I’m dying to use it in the molds. Cross your fingers for me, and maybe put another scoop in your bowl for me too! Thanks for reading! Your life matters! Black Lives Matter!
The Ice Cream Club 