Chocolate Sorbet

Speaking of food blog trends...

There's been a lot of buzz about chocolate sorbet lately. It must have been Smitten Kitchen's recent post about David Lebovitz's recipe from Perfect Scoop that got everyone so excited about frozen chocolate. Because, really, that's all it is...well, chocolate melted with water, sugar & cocoa powder and then frozen.

Chocolate Sorbet

2 1/4 cups water
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used Scharffen Berger.)
Pinch of salt (whoops, I forgot to add this!)
6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• In a large saucepan whisk together 1 1/2 cups of the water with the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Let it boil, continuing to whisk, for 45 seconds.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until it’s melted, then stir in the vanilla extract and the remaining 3/4 cup water.
  
• Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend for 15 seconds (I didn't do this either; I just made sure I whisked until it was smooth. I figured a rogue chocolate chunk or two wouldn't be the end of the world.).
  
• Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. If the mixture has become too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin it out.

Whoa! For having no cream or eggs, this sorbet is unbelievably rich! I agree with Peabody: "This stuff is better than brownies. It’s awesomer than the fudgiest chocolate ice cream. It makes chocolate truffles taste like they’re not trying hard enough. It could send that brandied ganache home with its tail between its legs."

A couple suggestions:

• Since I never have room in the fridge to chill ice creams before churning, I simply fill my sink with some ice water and set the pan (or bowl) in it to cool. In this case, I took the pan right off the stove into the sink.
• Even after churning in the ice cream maker for 1/2 an hour, the sorbet was pretty soft. So, I just put the whole canister in the freezer. It's firmer after freezing overnight, but still easy to scoop out.
• The cocoa powder and chocolate are the key ingredients, so don't skimp on cheap shit (that means NO Hershey's!). Really. Buck up a few extra dollars for the good stuff. (Kitchen Conservatory in St. Louis sells the cocoa powder for $8.95 and Callebaut chocolate at $6.95 a pound.)