Arnold Palmer Sorbet: Mocktail Meets Dessert

Years ago I was given an ice cream maker.  I am sad to say it does not find it's way out of my cupboard as often as it should.  All that is going to change now.  After spending an afternoon poking around the internet looking for desserts I stumbled upon two desserts that have given rise to this new sorbet concoction.  The first was a recipe for green tea sorbet and the second was for Arnold Palmer cupcakes.  These two recipes being similar only in that they both contained tea and sugar got me thinking two things.  First the tastiness that is an Arnold Palmer is to great to be restricted into just a drink and the second thought was if you could make green tea sorbet you could make Black tea sorbet.  From these thoughts this tasty dessert and Instructable was born.

First off I should say this makes enough for two batches of sorbet if you have a 1 quart ice ream maker like me.

Now much like the Arnold Palmer consists of equal parts iced tea and lemonade this recipe is actually just a 50/50 mix of lemon sorbet and black tea sorbet.

For the Lemon sorbet you will need
1 cup water (240 ml)
zest from 2 small lemons
3/4 cup sugar (96g)
1 cup fresh lemon juice (240ml) (I used 5 small lemons to achieve this)

The Black Tea sorbet will need
3 Large Iced Tea bags or the equivalent amount of tea which is about 21.6 grams
1/3 cup sugar (43g)
3 cups water (720ml)

On top of the ingredients you will need
ice cream maker
measuring cups
small pot
heat sorce
juice squeezer
zester or way of obtaining zest
scooping/stirring device
air tight container able to hold at least 1 quart

Pour 1 cup water into your small pot.  Start bringing your water to a boil.  As the water is heating stir in 3/4 cup of sugar.  Once the sugar is completely dissolved( if you are anything like me the water is not boiling yet and you know what they say "a watched pot never boils") you can zest your two lemons while you wait for the boiling.

While waiting for the water sugar mixture to boil I grated the zest off the two lemons.  To do this you just rub the lemon with a bit of pressure on your grater.

The zest of a lemon is just the very outer colored part of the lemon peel. As you are grating the zest off you want to try and keep from getting any of the pith, white bit under the zest.

The Water still had not boiled by the time I was done zesting so I also squeezed the needed 1 cup of lemon juice.  It took five small lemons to get the 1 cup of juice.

All that not watching the pot has paid off and we should now have a boiling pot of sugar water.  Quick turn off the heat.  Next add and stir in the lemon zest.  Let the hot sugar zest mix sit for about 5 minutes so the heat can draw all the tasty flavors out of the zest.

Now that we have twiddled our thumbs for fiveish minutes it is time to add the cup of lemon juice.  Pour the juice in and stir the mixture together.  At this point your mix should taste something like concentrated lemonade and will be quite warm still. If it is too sour for you now would be a good time to add and stir in more sugar to taste.

If you have only one pot like me you will need to pour your mixture into another container to cool.  I chose to pour it into an old peanut butter jar because I have a bunch of those around.

While that is cooling rinse out your pot and make the Black Tea sorbet.

Pour 3 cups of water into your pot and bring to a boil.  While waiting you can take the tea bags out of their paper envelopes and prep 1/3 cup sugar.  That however sadly does not take nearly as long as the zesting/juicing process did so entertain yourself for the remaining time.

Once you have achieved rapid boiling turn off your heat and plop your 3 tea bags in.  Let them steep in the water for about 5 minutes.  We are going for a really quite strong brew here.  Once your brew is good and dark take the tea bags out.

Now that we have a strong dark tea brew we are going to stir in the 1/3 cup of sugar.  Once that is completely dissolved you will want to either put it off to the side to cool or grab another peanut butter jar.  Kill some time while things are cooling.

If you have used two peanut butter jars as I have as your cooling vessels you should now have something that looks like this.  Here is where I ran int a philosophical wall that delves deep down into what an Arnold Palmer is to me Vs. how an Arnold Plamer looks when it is served to you.  Now when an Arnold Palmer is served to you it comes as a bottom layer of Iced Tea with a floating layer of lemonade on top.  This looks pretty however if you were to drink it with a straw not string it at all you might as well ordered two half glasses of the different beverages.

One could at this stage make separate black tea and lemon sorbets and serve them looking the same way the drink looks when it gets to you.  I believe however the magic that is the Arnold Palmer comes from the two beverages being mixed together.

Pour the two jars together into one container and refrain from drinking it all right now.  Your pancreas will thank you for your self control. You can have a little taste it should taste like a concentrated Arnold Palmer.

Follow the operational guide for your maker... Phew that was the easiest step to write.
For me this goes something like this
Grab cold bucket thingy out of the freezer where it has been sitting for at least 24 hours at his point.
Toss it on ice cream maker
Place paddle bit inside
Lock lid on Ice cream maker
Turn maker on
Slowly pour in half of the mixture in(we made enough for 2 quarts and I have a 1 quart maker)
Store the second half of the mixture in a peanut butter jar in the fridge.
Set the Mad cow for 25 minutes

While your machine is churning away, assuming you don't have to churn it, you can be productive and wash all the dishes you just made or do whatever you want till the 20-25 minutes are up. I chose dishes.

25 minutes sure goes by fast.  At this point you should have a mush that resembles a really think slushy drink.  You can eat it right now if you like.  I however prefer firmer sorbets so I scooped it into a air tight container and tossed it in the freezer.  If you want it firmer like I did let it sit in the freezer for at least 8 hours.

Scoop yourself out a bowl of your delicious Arnold Palmer sorbet and enjoy.  A warning this delicious sorbet is caffeinated because of the black tea so it is not the best idea for a late night snack.  Hope you all enjoy the Arnold Palmer sorbet as much as I am.