Dark Chocolate Sorbet

When I was younger, I used to get so excited when I came home from school and saw that my mother had gone to the grocery store.  My first thought was, "What did she get me?"

Yes, yes... I was a greedy little monkey.

But Momma Vittles was good to me - she always picked up something with me in mind. 

Now one good thing (or, perhaps the only good thing) about doing the grocery shopping in your household is that you're always sure to come home with something you wanted.

Tuesday, though, I was a very good girl.  I put something back that I wanted because it was too expensive.

Ever had Haagen Dazs' chocolate sorbet?

Man, is it good.  And for someone that looooves chocolate but also realizes that in less than 2 months it will be time to put on a bathing suit, it's the perfect treat.  It has all the richness of chocolate ice cream without all the fat from cream & eggs.

I mean, not that its good for you or anything, but let's be honest - if not chocolate sorbet, it would just be chocolate-something-else right?

Or wait, is that just me...?

Anyway... delicious as it is, I just could not fathom paying $3.99 for a tiny pint of the stuff.

Especially when the first ingredient listed is... water?  Ugh.

And then it dawned on me... I have an ice cream maker and could probably make this at home.

A quick search for "chocolate sorbet recipe" brought up loads of stuff.  But some of the recipes involved too much work.  Like ... allowing the sugar and water to carmelize in the saucepan for 5-7 minutes without stirring. 

Carmelize?  Did I miss the memo that we were making candy now?  Please.

In the wise words of my high school math teacher Mrs. Bertolami - "We do not need to reinvent the wheel here, people."  So, I settled on a nice simple recipe for a nice simple sorbet.

And... it had 3 ingredients.

Ok, which is almost too simple, so I did jazz it up a bit. 

But it came out de-LICIOUS. 

So take that, Haagen Dazs! You think because you came up with a fancy, foreign-sounding name you can charge me $3.99 for frozen water, sugar & cocoa??

I think not.


Rich Chocolate Sorbet

• 2 C. water
• 1 C. sugar
• 1 C. unsweetened cocoa powder
• generous pinch of salt
• 1 t. vanilla
• 2 T good quality dark rum  (optional- mostly it helps the consistency, so it won't freeze too solidly)

Prepare an ice bath.  (*This isn't ice cream so it doesn't have to be crazy, just a few ice cubes in a large pan or bowl of water.  In fact you could probably skip it altogether if you want?  I only did it because it speeds up the cooling process).

In large saucepan, combine sugar & water over medium heat & stir until sugar is dissolved.

Whisk in cocoa and salt, and bring to a simmer. Simmer 3 minutes, whisking constantly.

Remove from heat & stir in vanilla.  Pour mixture into a bowl & set bowl in the ice bath.

Cool mixture to room temperature, stirring occasionally.  Then cover bowl and transfer to refrigerator.  Chill 2 hours, then freeze according to ice cream maker's instructions.  If using alcohol, pour it in about halfway through before mixture is totally frozen.

You can eat the sorbet straight from the ice cream maker, or transfer it to freezer-safe container & freeze for later.  Makes about 3 cups.

**Note: Per a comment I saw on the original recipe, you can supposedly make this without an ice cream maker.  The commenter said to just put it in the freezer in a container and it will be fine.  I haven't tried this so I can't confirm - but if you don't have an ice cream maker, it's worth a shot!


Adapted from Recipezaar