SpiceDish Saturday {January}: Champagne Sorbet

So it's time for another SpiceDish Saturday. I am going to let SpiceDish's post and pictures speak for itself! Thanks, SpiceDish!

I love champagne sorbet. It was a special occasion treat for me growing up. Every time there was a special occasion birthdays, anniversaries, graduations etc. my dad liked to go to a very small little French restaurant run by a Turkish chef. He always made champagne sorbet for us when we came in. It was the perfect palate cleanser. But beyond that it was perfectly pink, perfectly sweet and made my teenage self feel very grown up and sophisticated.

This is where you can use not leftover champagne, because lets face it… who has leftover champagne… but maybe you have that bottle that you passed out before you opened. This recipe is very easy. You can either make it in an ice cream maker or make it 'granita' style.

Champagne Sorbet

2 cups champagne (pink preferably) chilled
1/4 cup sparkling mineral water
3 tbsp grapefruit juice
1 1/4 cup fine granulated sugar

DIRECTIONS
Heat the water, grapefruit juice and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and chill completely. Once completely cold add the champagne and stir until well blended.

Either place in ice cream maker and freeze according to directions or pour mixture into shallow baking dish. Place in freezer and freeze mixture for 2 hours. With a fork, scrape and break up the mixture. Freeze another hour and then scrape again. Repeat until you achieve a frozen texture you like. I like to serve with a mint sprig.

Recipe: Pomegranate Buttermilk Sorbet

So lucky for me that Lisa doesn't read my blog that much, because then maybe she won't know that dessert tonight is made up of leftovers!

I made my favorite carrot cake on Sunday, followed that by a quick bread, and I was still left with two cups of buttermilk. I don't know why they don't sell it in smaller quantities, because I don't know of one recipe that uses more than a cup of it at a time! So I looked up buttermilk recipes and came across a lot for buttermilk ice creams and sorbets. So I decided to follow one of the recipes from Cooking Light -- which was basically two cups of buttermilk, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of corn syrup.

I mixed and tasted it, and while thrilled I wasn't wasting any buttermilk, I wasn't so thrilled that it reminded me a lot of Pinkberry (and you know my feelings about that!). Should I add lemon extract? Orange? Then it hit me...I had a lot of homemade grenadine leftover from when I tried my first stab at Shirley Temple Ice Cream. I added 1/4 cup, but thought it needed more, so I added another 1/4 cup for a total of 1/2 cup of grenadine.

The sorbet froze up nicely, with a muted wine color. It still tasted a little yogurty to me, and with my sweet tooth, even though I love yogurt, when I am after frozen treats, I much prefer sweet sweet sweet!

What was nice about this recipe was that it was easy and quick. There was no stove prep, which was a nice break.

Lisa and I both liked the sorbet. As Lisa put it, "I feel like I shouldn't like it, but I do!" I know that sounds crazy, but I understand what she meant. It was very refreshing (I think it would be a great summer treat!) and at the same time, the sourness of the buttermilk was balanced by the sweetened grenadine.

Would I make it again? Not just for me. But it most definitely is a contender for I Scream 2009!

(Apologies for the photo quality -- had to use the iPhone because the sorbet was melting so quickly!)

Happy Blogiversary to Us!

Today marks the one year anniversary of Scoopalicious!

On January 2, 2008, Tina wrote the first post...little did she know that over those first days of January 2008, Bethany too was contemplating starting an ice cream blog! So we joined forces on January 8, 2008, and Scoopalicious as you know it today was born!

Tell us what your favorite post was over the past year and enter to win some coupons for free ice cream! Deadline is Monday, January 12th. Please be sure to include an email address at which we can contact you.

The image at left is one of the last days of work together and I was so sad to leave Tina. Luckily, Scoopalicious has kept us in touch more than I could have imagined. The photo was Poladorided! (Have fun with Poladroid, but warning, it is addictive!)

World's Most Expensive Sundae Update

I know we've mentioned it before, but we've never had a picture quite like the folks over at Turkey Hill's blog: Ice Cream Journal...

Head over to Ice Cream Journal for a picture of the World's Most Expensive Sundae that is worth a thousand words. And if that isn't enough, they also have a wonderful description.

My question is: how many people have ever ordered this sundae?

Chi-Town's "Original Rainbow Cone"

God love the Food Network...what would I watch without it. Tonight I discoverd a Chicago favorite and classic ice cream treat that sounds oh so yummy. It's the "original Rainbow Cone" and it was highlighted on a recent episode of Unwrapped. I love to hear about must haves in different cities and this is one that is quite simple but unique. And one I must try the next time I make it to Chicago (hubby goes there often, may have to piggy back just for this!).

So what is this "Rainbow Cone"? Back in 1926, on Chicago's South Side, this special treat was created for a mere 12.5 cents and 82 years later its still kickin, with lines out the door, but at a whopping $3.50. Simply its a plain cone stacked with first chocolate ice cream, then strawberry, Palmer House (french vanilla with cherries and walnuts), pistachio, and orange sherbet. And yes in that exact order every time making a rainbow of sweet colors. The sherbet is your first lick to cleanse the palette (pretty fancy!) and the chocolate is on the bottom to not intefere with the nuts and fruit flavors. Wow, a true science to this one.

Oh and they also are very particular about how its placed on the cone. They don't scoop, they slice so it really creates an arch of flavors (thus the rainbow) not scoops on top of eachother. It's pretty cool. Wish I could find a picture.

According to one Yelp visitor, "this is a Taste of Chicago staple, this place is like heaven for the indecisive, because an Original Rainbow Cone has five flavors of super sweet and creamily old timey ice cream all piled up together on the same cone..."

Time to get to the Windy City!