When the weather turns hot, I start thinking of icy cold desserts, and this summer is no exception. I have ice cream on the brain these days, which got me to thinking about how to make a sorbet reminiscent of tropical “umbrella” drinks…something fruity, icy cold (and nonalcoholic for my summer pregnancy).
I found a recipe on Allrecipes that uses cream of coconut and lime juice and I thought that it would adapt to other tropical juices as well. So I tried two batches, one Persian lime and one pineapple, and I made the sorbet mixes in a blender bottle for easy cleanup. We tasted the sorbets right after they were finished and again after they had sat in the freezer for 24 hours, and we decided that the sitting period was important. The coconut creme was very strong and initially overpowered the fruit flavors, but after the sitting period the flavors were much better balanced.
The original recipe did not call for lime zest, but I love lime and thought that adding some zest would really kick up the citrus flavor, which it did. Next time I make the lime sorbet, I’m going to use key limes for an even more intense lime flavor. The pineapple sorbet was much sweeter than the lime. It was almost too sweet for me…almost. In any case, we’re going to continue experimenting with this one and trying other juices. If you come up with a combination that you really like, let me know!
Equipment
blender bottle or bowl and whisk
ice cream maker
plastic freezer container
Ingredients
1 (16 ounce) can cream of coconut
1/2 cup lime juice (about 2 whole Persian limes)
zest of the limes
3/4 cup cold water
Preparation
1. Combine cream of coconut, lime juice, zest, and water in blender bottle. Add the blender ball and tighten the lid. Shake for about 20 to 30 seconds to thoroughly mix the ingredients. Put into the refrigerator to cool until ready to use.
2. Follow the manufacturers instructions for your ice cream maker. Transfer finished sorbet into plastic freezer container and freeze for about 24 hours before serving.
Variations
Try different juices such as orange or other citrus fruits.
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Source: adapted from Allrecipes.com
[An original post from Andrea Meyers: making life delicious. All images and text copyrighted, All Rights Reserved.]
[Disclosure: This blog earns a few cents on items purchased through the Amazon.com links in posts.]
Hi Andrea-
This is the first time I’ve seen your blog. Very cool, as I thought my closest blogging companion ws over in Virginia Beach!
At any rate, I tried making a coconut sorbet once before, and thought the final results rather ‘meh’. I like your idea of adding lime zest, I may have to make another attempt.
My mouth is watering.Looks fantastic.
You have a lot of great recipes! I have a recipe blog as well at recipeconnection.blogspot.com
Yay! A sweetener-free coconut sorbet recipe! I’ve been trying to think of a gluten-free, vegan, sugar/ maple syrup/ stevia/ any sweetener-free dessert to take to a pot luck (yep, really), and I settled on making a sugar-free fruit sorbet (mango or pineapple) and was wondering whether a sugar-free coconut one to ‘match’ would be tasty or bland. Well, seems you did it and enjoyed it, so… make it I will. Might make a peach sorbet and sweeten the coconut with peach juice, and stir through loads of toasted coconut too, just for texture.
@Clare–
I know your comment was made over a year ago, so I know you might never see this, but just FYI: this recipe is hardly “sweetener-free.” Canned cream of coconut has tons of sugar in it. It’s not the same as canned coconut milk.
For my purposes, this recipe looks good (found it googling around for a coconut sorbet recipe), but for yours, it doesn’t seem appropriate.
Yum! This sounds so refreshing!
Yay this is awesome, I used to love the Coconut Sorbet made by Ciao Bella because it was free of additional sweetners (coconut is already plenty sweet as is) but recently Ciao Bella changed their recipe and added cane sugar to the ingredients
looks like they lost one customer and the ice cream/ sorbet machines gained 1 I’ve been looking for a comparable coconut sorbet recipe for a few weeks now, I will give yours a shot and report my results later 
as soon as I’m off this gawd forsaken diet >..<
Hi Laura. If you are concerned about added sugar, you may want to check the label of the cream of coconut, as most have added sugar or sweeteners.