Mocha Sherbet Freeze

I spotted this sherbet on Saveur.com the other day, and it seemed like a very good antidote to our unrelenting August heat. I was ogling the frothy, icy, chocolaty beverage and wishing I had a glass of it in my hand when Cowgirl Chef all but dared me to go ahead and make it. So, I did. The recipe is also found in The Perfect Scoop, and since it’s a sherbet, it’s not terribly decadent. It’s made with espresso, cocoa powder, and milk. Once the sherbet has been churned in an ice cream maker and then left in the freezer to firm up, it’s then blended into a slurpingly good mocha freeze and topped with whipped cream making it a little more decadent than how it started. I made one change to the blended beverage by adding some Kahlua, and it did help alleviate the hot weather at least until my glass was empty.

I have to tell you a little more about the whipped cream garnish. I received a creative whip from iSi North America which makes whipping cream a very fast operation. I added a couple of teaspoons of sugar to a small container of cream, closed the top and shook the container to dissolve the sugar, and then poured the cream into the creative whip which is charged with nitrous oxide. You shake the creative whip canister a few times, and then pull the trigger for thick, whipped cream. That was so much easier than whisking for several minutes or pulling out the mixer. Obviously, you could use this tool for all kinds of creative foams or meringues, but I was thrilled to simply have effortless whipped cream on my mocha freeze. As I mentioned, I added some Kahlua. To make the freeze, you combine scoops of the sherbet with ice cubes and more espresso in a blender pitcher. I used half the suggested amount of espresso and half Kahlua. It was blended until smooth, whipped cream was piped onto it, and chopped chocolate-covered espresso beans were sprinkled on top.

Coffee and chocolate are great year-round, and in a frozen format, this fit perfectly with my criteria for summer desserts. It was cold, not heavy, and flavorful without being too sweet. Scoops of the sherbet all by itself were delicious too, but the blended beverage was a special treat.