Zosia's Reviews
9 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 9Sort by: Title 
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The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accessories
By David Lebovitz
Ten Speed Press,U.S. - 2007
Banana-Blackberry Sorbet : page 136
Wow, was this good! Fresh and fruity, it tasted of both blackberries and banana without one fruit overpowering the other. They complemented each other well with the banana mellowing out the sharpness of the blackberries and providing creaminess to the sorbet without adding dairy.
This was a variation of the banana-blueberry sorbet and the author didn’t mention straining the pureed fruit. With blueberries, it may not be necessary, but I thought it was needed with the blackberries; I don’t mind little crunchy bits and the slight bitterness that comes with them, but most people do, so I strained the mixture of pureed fruit, sugar and water before churning.
Excellent on its own or served with fresh berries.
useful (1)
Chocolate-Peanut Butter Ice Cream : page 30
Made with pantry ingredients and some light cream, this eggless ice cream was surprisingly rich and creamy with deep flavour. In fact, it tasted as though it were made with a high end bittersweet chocolate instead of just plain old cocoa powder. The peanut butter shared equal billing with the chocolate, making this a perfect treat for chocolate-peanut butter lovers.
useful (0)
Classic Hot Fudge Sauce : page 164
Rich, creamy, chocolate-y and totally decadent……a little goes a long way.
This combination of cream, butter, sugar, cocoa and bittersweet chocolate takes about 10 minutes to make (including weighing/measuring the ingredients) and produces a glossy, silky-smooth sauce that is out of this world!
I served it with the roasted banana ice cream but it would go well with just about anything - and it’s not too bad eaten straight from the jar : )!
useful (1)
Crème Fraîche Ice Cream : page 59
This ice cream reminded me of eating cheesecake; like a good cheesecake, it was smooth, creamy, lightly sweetened and just a little tangy. It was also very rich….too rich for me.
I didn’t have enough crème fraîche on hand – I was making the ice cream to use up the last of a container - so I added mascarpone cheese, a variation the author suggests, also using up what I had on hand. In combination with a custard base made with 5 egg yolks, this mixture produced a velvety ice cream.
I served it initially with macerated berries, which helped to cut the richness of the ice cream but everyone’s favourite seemed to be when it was served with hot espresso (affogato)…this combination tasted like tiramisu.
I’m having trouble rating this recipe…….it was very good ice cream but not one I would make again.
useful (2)
Lemon-Poppy Seed Cookie Cups : page 228
I needed something crunchy to go with this Pear-Ginger Sorbet and this recipe fit the bill with just a little doctoring…….my tuile cups are missing poppy seeds but have added lemon rind to bump up the lemon flavour (I was aiming for a pear-lemon-ginger experience : )).
As with all tuile batters, this one comes together quickly but does need to rest before baking. The author has you spread the batter a little before baking but I had difficulty doing this evenly and ended up with some perfectly round cookies and some ovals. With the last batch, I decided not to spread the batter and the results were the same….
I used an inverted muffin tin to shape the flat cookies into cups.
Even without the poppy seeds, the tuiles provided the texture I was looking for: the cookie baked up lacy and crispy and the almonds toasted during baking, adding some crunch as well.
They had a really lovely lemon-almond flavour that went nicely with the pear-ginger sorbet and would complement any fruity ice cream or sorbet.
useful (2)
Pear Sorbet : page 110
If you use the ripest pears you can find you’ll have a cool, creamy, luscious treat that tastes just like the fresh fruit and retains much of its character, that slight grittiness that one only associates with a pear.
I used local Bartlett pears and initially set aside just 4 as per the recipe, then decided to weigh them. I’m glad I did; I needed 2 extra to make up the correct weight.
I added chopped candied ginger to make the pear-ginger variation.
Served in these cookie cups, or just in a regular bowl, it made a perfect late-summer treat.
useful (3)
Roasted Banana Ice Cream : page 72
This was smooth and very creamy, despite being made with milk, with great banana flavour.
Ripe bananas are first roasted with brown sugar and butter……they smelled heavenly while baking and that wonderful buttery caramel flavour came through in the frozen product as well.
Easily the best banana ice cream I’ve ever tasted and everyone who had some agreed.
I served it with Classic Hot Fudge sauce and these roasted peanuts.
useful (1)
Salt-Roasted Peanuts : page 188
Salty-sweet candied peanuts that don’t involve boiling sugar and a candy thermometer…
These are as simple to make as roasting raw peanuts tossed with sugar, corn syrup and salt. I shaved off half the baking time by using dry-roasted peanuts.
They’re a little sweet (I would have preferred them a little sweeter), but mainly salty and crunchy and make a perfect sundae topping. I served them with the roasted banana ice cream and classic hot fudge sauce.
useful (1)
Vanilla Ice Cream, Philadelphia-Style : page 25
Easy to make, eggless, vanilla bean ice cream with great flavour. I prefer to make it with part milk so that it’s not too rich.
useful (0)