A Simple Trick for a Fancy Dessert: Sorbet Served in a Frozen Lemon

Raspberry sorbet served in a frozen lemon half

My daughter loves to put up a lemonade stand in our front yard. The minute the weather gets above 65 degrees, she drags out the table and chairs and makes a sign. I can’t tell if she is more enamored of the money – and her no-expenses, all-profit business model is one to emulate — or playing the role of the shopkeeper: touting the quality of her wares, making change, upselling her customers into one more Rice Krispie Treat. At this rate, our neighbors are soon going to have lemonade stand fatigue. The good news is, our lemonade stands offer delicious, homemade goodies. For one thing, we always make the lemonade from scratch: just lemons, simple syrup and water. At first, we served homemade lemonade because we didn’t have store-bought lemonade, or lemonade concentrate, in the house.

Juicing the lemons

Now, the process of making the lemonade is half the fun. I have an inexpensive Cuisinart citrus juicer that extracts every last drop of juice from those poor lemons. And all that remains is the hollowed-out peel of half a lemon.

Looking at those hollow lemon halves gave me an idea. Have you ever had sorbet served in a frozen lemon half at a restaurant? I remember having sorbet served that way in a cute Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side on a hot summer evening. It’s such a charming presentation. So, after our most recent lemonade stand, rather than throw out the hollow lemon halves, I popped them in the freezer to harden. (Before doing so, I cut off a small part of the tip of the lemon to make the halves stand up better.) And then, that night, I surprised my daughter by serving her raspberry sorbet (her favorite) in one of the frozen lemon peels. She adored it! And after she finished her treat, I simply rinsed out the lemon peel with water and put it back in the freezer for another time. Of course, this presentation is not only for kids. Sorbet or gelato served in one of these frozen lemon halves would make an elegant dessert for an adult dinner party.

The hollow lemon half

So, if you have a lemonade stand at your house this summer, don’t throw out those lemon halves after you juice them! Freeze them and surprise your family with an extra-special dessert that will put a simple popsicle to shame.

To make fresh-squeezed lemonade, combine equal parts fresh lemon juice and simple syrup and then add three parts cold water. So, for one cup of lemon juice, you would add one cup simple syrup and three cups water. To make simple syrup, combine equal parts sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Simple syrup will keep for quite a while in your fridge and is delicious is all kinds of summer drinks and cocktails.

Happy anniversary to my beloved husband!