Essentials for cooling down in the hot Summer months? Easy. Air-conditioning, minimal clothing and ice-cream, or in this case, sorbet. I am an absolute sucker for sweets, and sorbet is one of my absolute favourites. A recent trip to Indonesia provided endless inspiration after indulging with a scoop of coconut sorbet for dessert one humid and hot evening. It was bliss – pure, satisfying, cold bliss.

So here’s my recreation, a coconut sorbet but with a tang of lemony goodness. It’s a nice combination, and I would even say that it’s pretty flexible when it comes to additions. Next time I am thinking of doing it with lemongrass or lime over the lemon, and possibly using coconut water over coconut milk (totally adventurous, right?). Regardless of your chosen flavour add-on, it’s a nice way to finish a meal and the creaminess of the coconut milk makes it feel like Mr Ice-cream and Ms Sorbet had a night of pure passion, resulting in an amazingly awesome love-child.

This recipe works best if you have access to an ice-cream machine. These can be expensive, but if you enjoy creating and are a bit experimental – these machines are awesome fun. I often make sorbets and ice-creams for all sorts of occasions. Plus telling a group of friends you just whipped up some ice-cream to top their dessert sounds way better than “I just scooped it out of the bucket….”

 

Makes roughly 4 cups

The list:

1 cup caster sugar (I used raw sugar which made the sorbet go a little off white, but you can easily use a white caster sugar)

½ cup water

2 cups coconut milk

½ cup water, extra

2 Tbs lemon juice

Zest of 1 lemon

 

The method:

1. Place the sugar, lemon zest and water in a saucepan over low heat and stir until dissolved. Increase the heat to high and boil for 1 minute. Set aside to cool.
2. Add the coconut milk, extra water and lemon juice to the cooled syrup and stir to combine. Pour into an ice-cream machine and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions until the sorbet is just firm. Freeze until required.

*Recipe adapted from a Donna Hay version