RECIPE: Homemade Lemon Sorbet

Last week, I got a jump on my annual batch of Homemade Limoncello, a favorite libation (and a great gift to share with friends) for the holiday season.

The only drawback: the Limoncello recipe I use (CLICK HERE TO READ MY PREVIOUS POST ON HOW TO MAKE IT) calls of the zest of 20 lemons, which ends up leaving you with several cups of lemon juice.

Unfortunately, unless you're making lemonade, most lemon-infused recipes don't use more than a few tablespoons of fresh juice.  Yes, you can freeze the juice in ice cube trays, but it would probably take me years to get through it all if I only use it a cube-sized portion at a time.

The solution: Lemon Sorbet! I found a recipe that uses 2 full cups of juice per batch.  It also calls for a tablespoon or two of lemon zest, so I did end up using one extra lemon in order to get some zest for the sorbet. (Honestly--I think you can skip the zest if you want to.)

The recipe turned out great--very lemony, but not too tart, and not too sugary.  I used my trusty old (and when I say old, I mean it--the instruction manual is dated 1994) ice cream maker, and after 30 minutes, I had soft sorbet, ready to go into containers.  It takes several hours to freeze to sorbet consistency, but if you want to treat yourself to some Frozen Lemonade, you can get a big straw and drink it right out of the ice cream machine (or better yet--pour a shot of limoncello over it for a frosty adult beverage).

I ended up making 2 full batches of Lemon Sorbet, with about a cup or so of juice leftover that I will freeze for later use.  (I'm thinking the frozen lemon juice cubes will be perfect to add to hot tea with honey on cold winter days.)

Here's a link to Kitchn, the site where I found the recipe, which I've also printed below:

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups water
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 to 2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the water and sugar, and boil until the sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Stir in the lemon juice and lemon zest, then pour into the bowl of an ice cream maker. Churn according to manufacturer instructions (mine took about 30 minutes). Transfer to a storage container, cover tightly and freeze until ready to serve.