Creamy Strawberry Sherbet

We've just had some of our first multi day runs of warm weather for spring and it has been wonderful!  The girls requested some ice creams and we had already found that Cuisinart's chocolate ice cream recipe is fabulous!  The best chocolate recipe I have tried.  But I also had a request from eldest for sherbet since almost all store bought has corn syrup in it and we have to avoid that.  First, we tried a lemon sherbet because that is easy with ingredients on hand.  It was nice, maybe not as tart and sweet as I would have liked, but still good.  Strawberry seemed to me to be the next easy choice.  I looked at a bunch of old recipes in a book I grew up with, and then cobbled together my own.  I love how it turned out!  Good strong flavor, nice and creamy and assertively tart-sweet, as sherbet should be.  Youngest loved it, hubby declared it perfect.  Now usually youngest isn't too big on lots of sweets, but this morning, I found that she had gotten into one of the pints in the freezer and eaten half of it!  While I wasn't happy about that, I'm glad it is such a hit.  It's a bit richer than standard sherbet, but not nearly as rich as ice cream.  A good compromise and great flavor.  

You can use fresh or frozen strawberries.  The nice thing about using frozen is that they should be perfectly ripe and sweet, being picked and frozen when in season.  There is also the added benefit of the mix being instantly ready to go in the ice cream freezer without refrigerating first to chill!  If your strawberries are particularly sweet, you might be able to cut back on the sugar by 2-4 tablespoons, but remember that your mix will not taste as sweet once fully frozen and cured.  Cold reduces perception of sweetness.

Creamy Strawberry Sherbet

Makes about 2 quarts

1 cup milk

1 ½ cups sugar

1 tsp unflavored gelatin

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 cup (an 8oz. carton) sour cream

1 qt. fresh strawberries, washed and hulled (frozen works as well)

Combine sugar and gelatin in a bowl.  In a medium saucepan, heat and stir milk and sugar/gelatin mixture over medium/low heat until sugar is dissolved.  Stir in lemon juice.  Pour mixture into a blender.  Add strawberries, half at a time if frozen, and blend until smooth.  Blend in sour cream.  Chill in refrigerator until cold if using fresh strawberries.  Pour into ice cream canister and freeze according to manufacturer's directions until the mixture has a soft and creamy texture.  When sherbet is done freezing, remove to an airtight container and freeze for about 2 hours or until firm.  Remove 5-10 minutes before scooping.

Enjoy!