Frozen desserts for a hot summer day
With summer in full swing, it's the perfect time of year to think about frozen desserts. And fortunately, there are many inexpensive machines on the market that turn out a variety of cool treats. Many years ago, we purchased a Donvier (a manual counter-top machine), and eventually added an electric Cuisinart machine to provide another option for quick frozen desserts. Both machines are easy to use, and here are just a few of the treats that can easily be made at home:
Ice cream (originally iced cream), is a frozen dessert made from dairy products such as cream (or substituted ingredients), combined with flavorings and sweeteners. This mixture is cooled while stirring to prevent large ice crystals from forming. Although the term "ice cream" is sometimes used to mean frozen desserts and snacks in general, it is usually reserved for frozen desserts and snacks containing a high percentage of milk fat.
Gelato is an Italian frozen dessert made from milk and sugar, combined with other flavorings. The gelato ingredients are super-cooled while stirring to break up ice crystals as they form. Like high-end ice cream, gelato generally has less than 35% air - resulting in a dense and extremely flavorful product. Gelato has become a generic Italian word for ice cream although true gelato contains no cream.
Sorbet is a frozen dessert made from iced fruit puree and other ingredients. Sorbet is a form of gelato that contains no milk, unlike ice cream, but may contain alcohol, which lowers the freezing temperature, resulting in a softer sorbet. Unlike ice cream, the machinery used whips almost no air into the mixture, resulting in a dense and extremely flavorful product. This allows sorbet to match and sometimes exceed dairy-based gelato or ice cream for taste. Sorbet is frequently served as a low-fat and vegan alternative to ice cream.
A few recipes follow, or if you are interested in a cookbook devoted to this topic, a good choice is The Ultimate Frozen Dessert Book by Weinstein and Scarborough (2005). Of course, if the thought of going to this much trouble doesn't appeal to you, we've found that a scoop of high quality purchased gelato topped with a splash of hot espresso is a refreshing option.
