Apple Granité & Calvados Sorbet Recipes
Granité (grah-nee-tay) and sorbet (sor-bay) are frozen dessert cousins that, unlike ice cream, do not contain any dairy products (such as milk, cream, or eggs). Both can be used as a palate cleanser in between courses or as light desserts.
I remember the first time I was served a frozen treat in-between courses at a restaurant. I thought it was so chic that later in the week I went out and bought some Häagen-Dazs® lemon sorbet for the next time we had dinner guests. Now, I can make it myself and feel even more culinary!
I remember the first time I was served a frozen treat in-between courses at a restaurant. I thought it was so chic that later in the week I went out and bought some Häagen-Dazs® lemon sorbet for the next time we had dinner guests. Now, I can make it myself and feel even more culinary!
Granité
Granité is the plural form of granita in Italian. It’s a coarse-textured, grainy, crystalline frozen mixture that contains sugar, water, and a flavored liquid. It is traditionally made in a pan in the freezer and stirred with a fork about every 30 minutes.
Sorbet
Sorbet is French for the Italian sorbetto or sorbetti (plural). It’s a smooth, creamy, sweet, fruity frozen mixture that contains sugar, water, and fruit (either juice or puréed). It is made with a sorbet or ice cream maker.
Other Frozen Desserts
There are so many different frozen desserts: granité, sorbet, Italian Ice, sherbet, gelato, glace (pronounced glahs) among others. At first, I found the list of different frozen desserts overwhelming. Inspired by Jessica Hagy at her blog called Indexed, I decided to come up with my own index card graph, albeit a little more boring than hers! Here’s my compilation of several frozen desserts and where they fit on a creamy/icy scale and a fine/coarse scale.
Granité is the plural form of granita in Italian. It’s a coarse-textured, grainy, crystalline frozen mixture that contains sugar, water, and a flavored liquid. It is traditionally made in a pan in the freezer and stirred with a fork about every 30 minutes.
Sorbet
Sorbet is French for the Italian sorbetto or sorbetti (plural). It’s a smooth, creamy, sweet, fruity frozen mixture that contains sugar, water, and fruit (either juice or puréed). It is made with a sorbet or ice cream maker.
Other Frozen Desserts
There are so many different frozen desserts: granité, sorbet, Italian Ice, sherbet, gelato, glace (pronounced glahs) among others. At first, I found the list of different frozen desserts overwhelming. Inspired by Jessica Hagy at her blog called Indexed, I decided to come up with my own index card graph, albeit a little more boring than hers! Here’s my compilation of several frozen desserts and where they fit on a creamy/icy scale and a fine/coarse scale.
A few more facts:
Sherbet (NOT sherbert): Lighter than ice cream but richer than sorbet and contains dairy products.
Ice cream: Creamy flavor. Up to 50% air. Higher butterfat content (11-15%)
Gelato: Italian for ice cream. Denser flavor because it has less air (10-20%) in it than ice cream. Lower butterfat content (4-14%) than ice cream. Stored at a higher temperature (-13°C).
Glace: French for frozen custard. Rich flavor.
Italian Ice: A smooth, sweet water ice.
There is a ton of information about all these different types on the internet. Click here for one of the best pages I found that discusses all of them. Also, Shirley O. Corriher in Cookwise explains the different frozen desserts and their science very succinctly. Definitely worth a read.
Calvados
As I learned when making the Charlotte aux pommes, Calvados Calvadosis an apple brandy from the heart of Normandy in France. Although I didn’t splurge on a bottle for that recipe, I broke down and bought one for these frozen treats! I’m going to have to make a few more Apple Charlottes and apple sorbets to make up for it.
Recipe: Granité au Calvados (Calvados sorbet)
This is a traditional granité that’s icy and crunchy.from tbsp blog
Makes: 4 small servings
1 cup apple juice (replace some with water, if desired)
⅛ cup sugar
½ tablespoon lemon juice and/or ½ tablespoon apple brandy
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl to dissolve the sugar. Pour into a metal pan and put in the freezer. Stir with a fork every 30 minutes until it reaches a coarse, grainy texture.
Recipe: Calvados Sorbet
This sorbet is smooth and creamy.Adapted from Food Network
Makes: about 3 cups
⅔ cup water
½ cup sugar
1½ cups apple juice, chilled
⅓ cup Calvados, chilled
Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and let it boil for 2 minutes to dissolve the sugar. Cool. Add the apple juice and the Calvados and stir.
Transfer to a sorbet or ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s directions. Then, transfer the mixture to a container and freeze until firm, about 1 hour.
The addition of alcohol to the recipe lowers the freezing point, so this type takes longer to freeze and tends to separate after storage. Just stir it before serving.
Recipe: Green Apple Sorbet
This recipe is from the website for the Calvados brandy that I purchased. The puréed apple with the peels looks delicious in the sorbet.Makes: 4 servings
4 Granny Smith apples (500 g)
1 lemon, juiced
1¼ cups water
1¼ cups sugar
Calvados, for drizzling
Core and dice the apples; leave the skin on. Toss with the lemon juice and freeze overnight.
Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and let it boil for 2 minutes to dissolve the sugar. Pour the hot syrup over the frozen apples and blend in a blender.
Transfer to a sorbet or ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s directions. Then, transfer the mixture to a container and freeze until firm, about 1 hour.
When serving, drizzle some Calvados on top.
Tasting Notes
My freezer is now full of so many apple-flavored frozen treats, I’m not sure what I’m going to do since they don’t keep for very long (a week, if that). I liked each one for different reasons.
• Apple Granité had a very grainy, icy texture that was very similar to a popsicle.
• Calvados Sorbet from Gourmet was smooth with a kick from the brandy.
• Green Apple Sorbet from Calvados Boulard was sophisticated, sweet, and beautiful.
I also tried making a granité that the kids would like using their favorite juice and leaving out the brandy! I thought they’d like the popsicle angle. Again, they were amazed that I could make something that they could enjoy (since I still haven’t been able to convince them that chicken is delicious!).
I also thought a mix of granité and sorbet in one bowl would be interesting to try and provide some contrasting tastes in each bite: smooth and crunchy. This turned out to be my favorite way to finish up all the frozen treats I’d assembled.
. . . . . . . . . .
Running total: $237.04 + $1.21 (Apple Granité) + $5.05 (Calvados Sorbet) + $2.95 (Green Apple Sorbet) = $246.25
Butter used so far: 4 pounds, 27.5 tablespoons
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