I suspect most ice cream shops' business suffers in January. After all, who wants to brave the frigid January weather to go get ice cream. Hot soup, sure, but ice cream? Not so much. Luckily for me, I'm my own best customer, so business has been booming. 

DC just kicked off its first cold spell of the new year and the weather men are threatening snow (always sure to throw the city into gridlock). So I decided to buck the seasons and make strawberry sorbet, as a reminder that Spring is on its way. 


Okay, that's not true- I wanted ice cream, didn't have any milk in the house, and an excavation of the back of my freezer revealed a bag of frozen strawberries. So strawberry sorbet it was!

I based this on David Lebovitz's recipe from The Perfect Scoop, but I've upped the amounts. His recipe yields only about half a quart, and that isn't enough for me, let alone enough for me to share with anyone else. 

Full disclosure: I haven't tried this with these amounts. I used his recipe as written in the book and was unfortunately reminded how little it makes, a few short hours before bringing it to someone's house for dessert. These amounts are what I'll use the next time I make this. For the purists, I've included his recipe below. Feel free to use that- you won't hurt my feelings.

Strawberry Sorbet
Ingredients:

• 2 lb. strawberries, fresh or frozen
  
• 1 cup sugar
  
• 2-3+ tbl of liquor (optional; I've used dark rum to great success, but a splash of vodka works well to prevent it from turning into a brick)
  
• 1 tbl lemon juice (Most recipes call for fresh squeezed, and if you have it, great. But really, who keeps lemons in the house? I bought a large bottle of concentrate lemon juice awhile ago, and I use that as needed).
  
• Pinch of salt
  

Directions:

1. If you're using frozen strawberries, let them mostly defrost in a large bowl. (If you can get rid of most of that melted water before continuing, go for it. If not, don't worry about it. This isn't rocket science.) If you're using fresh strawberries, wash, hull, and slice the strawberries.
   
   
2. Toss the strawberries with the sugar and liquor, if using, stirring until the sugar begins to dissolve.  Cover and let stand for 1 hour, stirring every so often (I've skipped the hour wait, with no harm done).
   
   
3. Puree the strawberries (I use a hand blender, and it works great- just watch out for stray bits of strawberries making a desperate break for freedom onto your kitchen counter) with the other ingredients  until smooth. If you don't want seeds in your sorbet, press the mixture through a strainer. (Anyone who knows me even slightly knows I never both with this step.)   
   
   
4. Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. (One thing the manufacturer's instructions aren't likely to tell you is when to stop freezing sorbet. For years, I treated sorbet like ice cream, and I ended up with crumbly sorbet. No good. Instead, stop churning when its the consistency of a thick smoothie. You'll get a much richer, thicker and smoother end product.)  

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And here, for the sticklers, are the original amounts:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled
  
• 3/4 cup sugar
  
• 1 tsp. kirsch (optional)
  
• 1 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
  
• Pinch of salt