Recently, I had one of those days, which just happened to correspond to a weekend when it was approximately one million degrees out (really, it was). What really seemed perfect was some chocolate sorbet. I have an ice-cream maker which is awesome, but I almost never use it. Therefore, the freezer bowl part of it wasn't frozen, and I was left to my own devices. Fortunately, I found a SUUUUPER easy recipe on Epicurean, that you just make in the freezer. And because of the wonders of the internet, now you, you lucky lucky reader, can have it too.
You need:
1c sugar
.5 c cocoa powder (the real stuff, this doesn't mean cocoa mix)
1.5c water
1tsp vanilla
a glug of kahlua (by the way, having made the vanilla extract and infused vodka, I'm now dying to make kahlua)
Mix together the sugar and cocoa and stir in the water. Heat it up slowly so that the sugar dissolves (if you heat things with sugar up too fast, they can get hot but the sugar is still grainy; this is conceptually related to why some people make bad grainy fudge, they're not heating it slow enough even though they get it to the right temperature in the end. I learned this after making a lot of bad fudge, myself). Boil it for a few minutes until it is dark, a little thick, and glossy- I read these instructions and thought, glossy? what? well, really, it does look glossy- just you wait. Then stir in the vanilla and kahlua, and let the whole thing cool.
Now, once you've done this, it makes this ridiculously decadent tasting syrup. Pop it in the freezer (once its cool! otherwise you will melt all of your nice little tupperware lunches!). Now, I'll say this. I was doubtful about this whole endeavor- I was pretty sure that this entire thing was going to be a chocolate flavored block of ice. But, it seems that the alcohol is not just there to make it delicious- it also changes the properties of the sorbet so it freezes nicely and not as a big block.
At any rate, this was DELICIOUS. Now, once out, it melted reeeeeeeaaaaallly fast- which is why taking this picture was challenging and it doesn't look that great. But, the frozen parts? out of this world. So dark and thick and with a strong purely chocolate flavor that had a little extra depth thanks to the vanilla and kahlua. I highly recommend it.
2 comments:
Oooh, chocolate. I am so making this. Sounds super easy and with no need to use the ice cream maker.
And what a great tip re/cooking the sugar mixture slowly! I never knew that was the key to making non-grainy fudge. Thanks!
I actually tried it a second time with the ice cream maker, and it didn't work! It was actually better in the freezer- I have no idea why that would be though.
And, re: the fudge, it took my Mom and I years to figure that out- first we figured out that it was always better when made in this smaller sized pan, then we finally figured out it was because it was heating slower. Now its perfect every time!
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