Cool Desserts

It's now officially summer. And what is better for your summer enjoyment but cool desserts? Here are six yummy dessert recipes to help cool you off, including Rhubarb Ice Cream with a Caramel Swirl and Mocha Sherbet Freeze. (Hint: These will also make a nice addition to your 4th of July festivities tomorrow!) Enjoy!

LEMON BLUEBERRY SORBET

This is from a long-since-forgotten emailing list. It begins, “Lemon verbena enhances the lemon flavor of this blueberry sorbet. The rum is optional. The recipe calls for frozen blueberries, so you can make it year-round.”

Yield: 4 servings.

Ingredients

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup whole lemon verbena leaves

1 bag frozen blueberries (14 to 16 ounces)

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

2 Tablespoons lemon-flavored rum (optional)

Preparation

Put sugar and lemon verbena in a food processor and process 30 seconds. Add frozen blueberries and process 1 minute.

With the processor on, pour lemon juice and rum, if using, through the feed tube; process until smooth.

Serve sorbet immediately, or transfer to a covered bowl and keep in freezer (soften slightly before serving, if necessary).

LEMON SORBET

Here’s another recipe from that infamous long-since-forgotten emailing list. Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon zest

Preparation

In a small saucepan, bring the water and the sugar to a boil, stirring the mixture to dissolve the sugar. Add the lemon juice and zest to the sugar syrup and freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

RHUBARB ICE CREAM WITH A CARAMEL SWIRL

This is from Melissa Clark in The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. Melissa wrote, “This ice cream is chock-full of sweet bits, but with enough satiny frozen custard to savor between the chunks. To keep the rhubarb from freezing into tooth-breaking fruity ice cubes, stew it with plenty of sugar, which keeps the fruit soft. The technique works with any summer fruit, though it’s especially nice with rhubarb, or gooseberries for that matter, both of which need a lot of sugar to tame their squint-inducing acid content. But you can substitute strawberries, apricots, cherries, peaches or plums as the summer fruit season progresses, adjusting the sugar depending upon the sweetness of the fruit.”

Yield: One scant quart

This was featured in “Rhubarb, It Turns Out, Can Be a Sweetie”, and can be viewed online here.

Ingredients

1 and 1/2 cups whole milk

1 and 3/4 cup plus 6 tablespoons granulated sugar

Pinch fine sea salt

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

4 large egg yolks, lightly beaten

1 and 1/2 cups sour cream

3/4 pound rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch dice

1/2 cup heavy cream

Preparation

In a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, whisk together the milk, 3/4 cup sugar, the salt, the vanilla bean seeds and its pod. Simmer gently until sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and steep 30 minutes. Discard the vanilla pod and return mixture to a bare simmer.

Place the yolks in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in hot milk mixture. Scrape the custard back into the pot and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Whisk in sour cream. Chill at least 3 hours or overnight.

In a saucepan, combine the rhubarb with 1 cup sugar. Simmer until rhubarb is just tender and has begun releasing its juices, but has not started to fall apart, 4 to 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer rhubarb to a bowl. Continue to simmer the juices until syrupy, 5 to 10 minutes more. Pour the syrup over the rhubarb. Cool completely.

In a clean, dry and preferably nonstick skillet, sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar over medium heat. When it begins to melt and lightly color, sprinkle in 2 more tablespoons and start swirling pan to help evenly distribute sugar. Add the final 2 tablespoons and cook, swirling pan until all the sugar has melted. Let cook, swirling occasionally, until the sugar syrup caramelizes and turns dark brown. Pour in the heavy cream and 2 tablespoons water (stand back; it may splatter). Simmer, stirring with a heatproof rubber spatula until smooth. Cool completely.

Pour the custard base into an ice cream machine and churn. Add rhubarb compote for the last minute of churning.

Scrape a quarter of the caramel into the bottom of a freezer-proof quart container. Top with a quarter of the ice cream. Repeat layering until all of the caramel and ice cream has been used, ending with the ice cream. Freeze until firm for at least 2 hours and up to 1 week.

MOCHA SHERBET FREEZE

Here’s a recipe from that infamous long-since-forgotten emailing list.

Ingredients

2-1/4 cups strongly brewed coffee or espresso

3/4 cup sugar

6 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

3/4 cup whole milk

Preparation

Whisk together the coffee, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a large saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil and allow it to boil for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and stir in the milk.

Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Perfect Pairing: To make a Mocha Freeze, for each serving put 2 scoops of Mocha Sherbet (4 ounces, 115 g) in a blender along with 1/2 cup (125 ml) very strongly brewed coffee or espresso, 1-1/2 tablespoons sugar, and 3 ice cubes. Blend until almost smooth. Pour into a glass and top with Whipped Cream.

HOMEMADE ROCKY ROAD ICE CREAM

Every year on the 4th of July, I make two flavors of homemade ice cream. It's a tradition that stems from my childhood, when my dad would bring out the ice cream freezer for the annual summer treat. This year, I'll be making this, along with with vanilla ice cream.

Back when Dad started the tradition for our family, the ice cream freezer was a hand-crank deal. By the time the ice cream was ready, several people had had their turn at working the crank, tiring their arms in the process. Fortunately, we have an electric ice cream maker, which helps immensely.

This comes from the almost-infamous long-since-forgotten-email-list. While I don’t remember who sent this to the list, but whoever sent it in wrote, “I love this ice cream, very creamy and I'd say it tastes better than store bought. Hope you like it as much as we do!!” Time: 45 min; 5 min prep; serves 10 - 12

2 cups 2% low-fat milk

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows (or if you REALLY like them you can use half a bag like I do!)

2/3 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

Mix all ingredients together in cylinder of ice cream maker; freeze according to manufacturers directions.

Allow to set in freezer for 2-4 hours.

STRAWBERRY SORBET

This comes from Amanda Hesser, also in The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. Amanda wrote, “This mouthwatering summer sorbet is an adaptation of one served at the River Café in London. Yes, it calls for an entire lemon (rind and all), but trust us: the sweet of the strawberries and sugar, the tart and bitter of the lemon – it all works together beautifully.”

Yield: Makes 1 1/2 quarts; Time: 10 minutes.

This was featured in “The Arsenal” and can be viewed online here.

Ingredients

1 whole lemon, seeded and roughly chopped

2 cups sugar

2 pounds strawberries, hulled

Juice of 1 to 2 lemons

Preparation

Place the chopped lemon and sugar in a food processor, and pulse until combined. Transfer to a bowl.

Purée the strawberries in a food processor, and add to the lemon mixture, along with the juice of 1 lemon. Taste and add more juice as desired. The lemon flavor should be intense but should not overpower the strawberries. Pour the mixture into an ice cream machine and churn until frozen.