Quick & Easy Fruit Sorbets
As of this past Sunday, I officially completed the 21-day Crazy Sexy Diet cleanse. I’m proud to say that aside from a couple of exceptions (namely, some fantastic Irish soda bread on St. Patrick’s Day – worth it!), I was able to stick to the eating plan without much difficulty at all. And overall, I felt lighter, more energized and motivated, and was mostly able to reign in my sugar cravings. And then this week happened.
After three weeks without my beloved TJ’s vegan chocolate chips, I indulged in a small handful. But to my own surprise, they didn’t even taste that amazing. Maybe I played them up in my mind all those times that one time I couldn’t resist smelling the bag of chocolate chips? Nonetheless, the simple act of eating a few seems to have sent my sweet tooth into overdrive. Suddenly, I’ve been finding myself wanting something sweet after lunch, dinner – just about all the time.
Rather than fueling these sugar cravings with another small handful of chocolate chips, and then another, and another – never feeling satisfied and always wanting more – I decided to create a dessert that won’t leave me searching for my next fix.
Sorbet is one of my favorites, and I will almost always choose it over something like cake or cookies. Frosting, on the other hand, is a whole different ballgame. I will happily trade you my cake for your frosting.
Similar to my recent cucumber avocado soup, this sorbet recipe is ridiculously simple – fruit (fresh or frozen), water, a tiny bit of coconut oil (or alcohol! see my note below), and sweetener to taste. It’s easily customizable to whatever you have on hand. I made a blueberry lemon version and a banana sorbet (similar to the famous banana soft-serve, but a little lighter in texture).
Perhaps the past three weeks have messed with my taste buds, but this trumps those chocolate chips any day. It also doesn’t hurt that you can eat the entire recipe in one sitting and feel pretty damn good about it.
| Simple Fruit Sorbet |
- For the Blueberry Lemon Sorbet:
- 2 C. Frozen, Organic Blueberries, mostly defrosted
- Juice & Zest of 1 Small Organic Lemon
- 1/3 C. Water
- 1 Tsp. Coconut Oil, melted
- Sweetener to Taste (I used 1 Tbs. Raw Agave and 7 drop of NuNaturals Liquid Stevia)
- For the Banana Sorbet:
- 2 C. Sliced Bananas (about 2 large bananas, fresh not frozen)
- 2/3 C. Water
- 1 Tsp. Coconut Oil, melted
- Sweetener to Taste (I used 1 Tbs. Raw Agave)
- Add the fruit (including the lemon juice and zest, if you’re making the blueberry sorbet), water, and coconut oil to the blender.
- Process the ingredients until smooth.
- Taste the mixture and add sweetener according to your taste preferences. Quickly blend to combine.
- Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
I have a Cuisinart ice cream maker and found that it took about 20 minutes to attain a sorbet-like consistency.
The addition of the coconut oil doesn’t really impact the flavor, but I found that it helped the sorbet to keep from becoming rock hard in the freezer. Another favorite trick is to add a little alcohol (1-2 Tbs. or so) – this has the same effect.
Store any leftover sorbet in a freezer-safe container in the freezer. Allow to thaw on the counter for a few minutes before serving.
This recipe is easily adaptable to whatever fruit you have on hand. Just note that frozen fruit will require about half as much water as fresh fruit.
