Holiday Treats: Orange-Pineapple Sorbet
Holidays are filled with delicious things to eat and most of them are loaded with fat and sugar. When I think of a typical Thanksgiving treat, I visualize pies, cookies, and cakes, all with lots of butter and sugar. I love those treats and I certainly will eat them. But I want to limit the amount of calories and fat without feeling deprived. Lately, I’ve found that eating some frozen desserts can be a good alternative. But it’s crucial to know exactly what’s in your frozen treat.
Basically, it boils down to the amount of milk fat. Ice cream must contain a minimum of 10% milk fat. And the more expensive and elite your ice cream, the higher the fat, often as much as 16%. Light ice cream or ice milk will contain less than 10% milk fat. Sherbets usually contain around 2% milk fat. Gelato, surprisingly, is similar to sherbet.
Since I know I’ll be exposed to plenty of fat in the foods served this holiday, I prefer to have fat free sorbet, made with fruit, in place of the high fat goodies. Dressed up with low calorie cookies, you don’t feel deprived. I like meringue cookies, which are made entirely from eggs whites, flavorings, and a small amount of sugar. The crunchy cookie and the frozen sorbet taste fabulous together.
These types of frozen desserts contain no emulsifiers or fat, so they melt quickly, creating a delicious liquid bathing each spoonful of the sorbet. This recipe makes 10 servings, at 90 calories a serving, much lower than your average holiday treat. The meringue cookies I served with them are small and contain less than 10 calories apiece. You can usually find them at your grocery store.
Orange-Pineapple Sorbet
Courtesy of Allrecipes
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups orange juice
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple
2 tsp freshly grated orange zest
In a medium saucepan, bring water and sugar to a simmer over medium high heat until sugar is dissolved.
In a food processor, puree pineapple with its juice until smooth.
Transfer to a metal bowl, and stir in lemon juice, orange juice, sugar syrup, and orange zest.
Freeze until slightly firm, but not frozen.
Process mixture again in the food processor or beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
Transfer to a freezer container and freeze until firm, about 2 hours.
