The Ice Cream Queen's Splendid Grapefruit Sorbet Recipe

When ice cream queen Jeni Britton Bauer released Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream Desserts ($15, originally $24) this Summer, I did not expect to land on a sorbet recipe. But I had to know: could she achieve the same wonderful, chewy mouthfeel and tastebud-sparking flavor as her ice creams?

Her technique for making sorbet does have similarities to her basic ice cream base. It calls for corn syrup, which repels water and gives ice cream and sorbet a gummy, rather than icy, consistency. And by cooking the sugar-juice mixture on the stovetop (like she does with her sugar-cream), the sugar molecules bond with the water in the juice and allow some of the water to evaporate. "Ice cream making is all about tying up the water," Jeni told me, and the same applies to sorbet. I opted to include lavender in my batch to amplify the sophistication of the flavor. It's not Jeni's without a fancy, unexpected twist!

When my sorbet had sufficiently churned and firmed up, I took the pint outside to enjoy a few scoops in the sun. A past sorbet naysayer myself, I couldn't believe how fluffy and easy to scoop the sorbet is, probably due to the addition of vodka. Texture-wise, this is not your brick-hard, icy sorbet that you're used to. Instead, it's smooth and silky. I have never paired lavender and grapefruit before, but the two deserve a lifelong marriage when it comes to desserts. Yes, Jeni's sorbet is just as splendid as her ice cream.