Nectarine Sorbet in Five Spice Cookie Cups

You will never believe it. I almost don't believe it myself. Drum roll.........................I finished my project! It is such a relief to no longer have a graded project hanging over my head. Don't worry though. This is not my last blog post by any means, however.

After having baked each recipe in Room for Dessert, I am going to keep blogging. I'm thinking that I will change the format of my blog a bit and bake from a number of different books, rather than just one. I have become so attached to this little website that I know I couldn't give it up.

Contrary to what you might think, I didn't leave this recipe for the end because I didn't want to make it. In fact, I was intrigued by the idea of a nectarine sorbet, and how could you go wrong with a five spice cookie? Interestingly enough, the sorbet turned out creamy and opaque; it looked more like a sherbet than a sorbet, but it certainly didn't taste like sherbet.

Unlike most of the sorbets and ice creams that I have made so far, this one was done much sooner than I had expected. It had actually become thick after only twelve minutes, and it had taken on a milky appearance. I scraped the sorbet into a plastic container and put it into the freezer until I had made the cookie cups in which to serve them.

The cookie cups that would hold the sorbet were simple tuiles molded around small teacups. While the sesame almond tuiles and the pecan tuiles were lacy and delicate, these were almost spongy. After I looked back over the recipe I realized that this was likely due to a mistake I had made. I used two whole eggs instead of two egg whites, which was probably the reason that the cookies didn't really harden.

 

The sorbet was nice, but it was different than any I had tasted. It was much richer than I had expected, and it was mild and sweet. I didn't particularly care for the cookies; however that very well could have been because of my little mishap. To my delight, Riley really enjoyed the sorbet, which was a bit shocking because he hates peaches and nectarines. This was such a great way to end my project.

Nectarine Sorbet
Serves 6-8
Adapted from Room for Dessert

9 small nectarines
1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup water
3/4 cup sugar

Rinse and halve the nectarines. Remove the pits and cut the halves into 1/2-inch thick slices. Cook the nectarine slices with 1/3 cup of the water in a saucepan, covered, over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, until the nectarines are fully cooked. Puree the nectarines with the sugar and the remaining 1/2 cup water in a food processor. Refrigerate the mixture completely before freezing. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to instructions.

Five-Spice Cookie Cups
Makes 6-8 tuiles
Adapted from Room for Dessert

4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
2 egg whites, at room temperature
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground star anise
1/2 teaspoon ground Sichuan pepper

Preheat the oven to 350. Cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg whites one at a time, then stir in the flour and spices. Butter two heavy baking sheets and dust with flour. Drop 1 1/2 tablespoons batter onto the prepared baking sheet and spread with the back of a spoon, three to a baking sheet. Bake for 6 minutes. Lift each cookie off of the baking sheet and drape over an overturned teacup and shape immediately. Repeat with the remaining batter.

More Nectarine Recipes

Upside-Down Nectarine Muffins

Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches with Nectarine Ice Cream

Bourbon Nectarine Ice Cream Sundaes