Three Ingredient Lime Sorbet

Sorbet is a wonderful dessert to make when you want something that is light, but still has lots of flavor. While a scoop of ice crema is still a welcome treat on a hot day, it just won’t refresh you the same way that a fruity sorbet will. Sorbets are typically made with fruit, sugar and water, with other elements added in to add complexity to the basic recipe. This Lime Sorbet is one of the simple sorbet recipes you can make – but don’t let the short ingredient list fool you into thinking that this isn’t a standout dessert!

The sorbet has only three ingredients: lime juice, sugar and water. You’ll need a few fresh limes to get the right amount of juice and you must use fresh citrus. There is just enough sugar to tame the sour lime without making the sorbet overly sweet, and the finished sorbet tastes like the best limemade you’ve ever had.

While you can use a raw or turbinado sugar in this recipe and still get an excellent sorbet, I highly recommend sticking to white sugar to ensure that you get the best color in your finished dessert. The color is nearly white. If you want to give your sorbet a little pop of green, you can either stir in a teaspoon or two of lime zest before churning the sorbet or add in a few drops of green food coloring. I like the bright white color of the sorbet as-is, so I typically leave mine plain.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can also prepare this sorbet as a granita. To make the granita, simply pour the lime mixture into a large, shallow baking dish and freeze until set. Once the mixture has frozen, use a fork or spoon to scrape it into fluffy flakes of lime-flavored snow. You’ll get all the flavor of the sorbet in an even lighter-textured dessert – and no special equipment necessary.

Lime Sorbet
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water

In a small saucepan or microwave-safe bowl, dissolve sugar into 1 cup of water. Add sugar-water solution to lime juice and chill. Pour into your ice cream maker and freeze as directed.

Makes 4-6 servings. Can be doubled.