When life hands you lemons, grab a cup of sugar and make Lemon Sorbet!

Not long after we moved to California, we started getting sackfuls of free lemons from a friend with a tree. 

He’d give us a few oranges, too, but said nobody wanted the lemons. What?! Bring ’em on! I love lemons. I love to look at them. So pretty! And so yummy. I love lemonade, and lemon bars and lemon cookies. I love to scrub out the sink with a half lemon dipped in baking soda. A lemon wedge floating in a cocktail. And a bite of lemon sorbet on a hot summer day, mmmm….

Lemon Sorbet Recipe

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup freshly squeezed juice (about 3-4 lemons)
2 teaspoons fine grated lemon zest

In a small saucepan on medium high heat, make a simple syrup by heating sugar and water until the sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool completely. You can stick in the fridge or freezer to speed up the cooling (but don’ t let it freeze!) Mix in the lemon juice and zest into the cooled simple syrup.

If you have an ice cream maker, freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can pour the mixture into a shallow pan and freeze in your freezer until semi-solid (hint: I like to add 2 Tbsp. of rum or vodka to the mixture before freezing, to keep from freezing completely solid).

Remove semi-frozen mix from the freezer ; let it stand for a while to soften slightly if it’s frozen too hard. Process in a blender or food processor until smooth. Pour into an airtight container and freeze until ready to serve. Scoop out and enjoy!