Green Apple Jasmine Sorbet Sandwiches with Chocolate Snaps

Thank you to everyone who wrote in on the last post with your recommendations for New York and Pittsburgh eats.  I've had the chance to visit quite a few of the places y'alls recommended, and they've definitely been delicious!

I'm still on my business trip, and though I've met wonderful new people and learned so many things so far--and seen so much snow!, I'm utterly exhausted already.  Giving three presentations/talks on three different subjects in the space of four days?  Not easy, and I'm totally talked out!  There are seriously no more words left in me.  So I hope you don't mind if I just show you pictures of what I have waiting in my freezer at home for me.  And I can't wait to get back to it: green apple jasmine sorbet with chocolate snaps = sorbet sandwiches!  I made these before leaving on my trip, and they're going to be the perfect post-conferences detox dessert.  Light, bright, and fresh from the tart green apple and fragrant sweet jasmine tea, combined with just the perfect amount of earthy chocolate, will be exactly what I need after days of traveling airports and eating out.  And yes, I just said "detox dessert."  Because that's how we do it in the dessertsforbreakfast household.

P.S. Watching it snow outside and being outside *in* the snow is like living in a snow globe!  Magical!

Read on for recipe....


Green Apple Jasmine Sorbet
loosely inspired by Sunset Magazine

1 1/4 lbs granny smith apples, cored and chopped (leave peel on!)
1 cup + 3/4 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tspn salt
freshly squeezed juice of half a lemon
1/4 cup pearl jasmine tea leaves
a pinch of powdered green food coloring (optional)

1. Combine the apples, 1 cup of water, sugar, salt, and freshly squeezed lemon juice in a pot and bring to a boil. Cover loosely, lower heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the apple chunks are very tender.
2. Meanwhile, bring the remaining 3/4 cup of water to a simmer and brew the tea leaves. Let steep covered.
3. Once the apples are tender, remove the pot from heat and add the tea and tea leaves into the pot. Cover tightly and let cool at room temperature.
4. Once cool, press the contents of the pot through a fine mesh strainer. Discard the apple peels and tea leaves that are left behind.
5. If a smoother sorbet is desired, puree the strained apple sauce in a food processor with the powdered green food coloring, if using, until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and chill thoroughly in the refrigerator.
6. Once chilled, freeze the sorbet base in your ice cream maker of choice. (Here's mine, which works like a dream, and I also have this one.) Once churned, you may want to let the sorbet harden further overnight in the freezer.

Note: now's the time to break out the good quality green tea--the better the green tea you start with, the better this sorbet will taste.

Chocolate Snaps
adapted from David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert

1 1/2 cups (210 gr) AP flour
1/4 cup + 2 Tbspn (75 gr) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 1/4 tspn baking powder
1/8 tspn salt
1 stick (4 oz./112 gr) butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup + 2 Tbspn (125 gr) sugar
1/4 tspn vanilla extract
2 egg yolks

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in a mixer with the paddle attachment for 3-5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl.
3. Add the vanilla extract and egg yolks to the butter and sugar, one at a time and beating well after each addition.
4. Mix in the prepared flour in two to three additions. Press together into a dough, wrap with parchment paper or plastic wrap and chill for one hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare baking sheets lined with silpats or parchment paper.
6. Roll out the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface. Using a cookie cutter, cut out your desired shapes. Keep the dough cool as you work with it.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating once halfway through the baking.
8. Once done, remove from oven and let cool briefly before removing the cookies from the baking sheet and placing them on a wire rack to continue cooling. Cookies will continue to harden as they cool.


Enjoy!