Bittersweet Chocolate and Honey Sorbet

~ White House Red Door

During the weeklong Patricia Wells’ cooking class, my tasks ran the gamut from braising asparagus, creating compound butters, deep frying onion rings, setting lemon panna cotta, to making an amazing Bittersweet Chocolate and Honey Sorbet, which won “Best Taste of the Week.”

Ingredients for Bittersweet Chocolate and Honey Sorbet
Mise en Place in Paris

This sorbet is deep, rich, and incredibly satisfying. With help from my 10yr old, it was the first recipe I recreated when I arrived home and a huge hit with my family. So easy to make, the sorbet will be a standard freezer item all summer long. Enjoy!

Bittersweet Chocolate and Honey Sorbet

Bittersweet Chocolate and Honey Sorbet

  • Servings: 8-10
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*recipe adapted from Patricia Wells

Ingredients:
2 cups water
2/3 cup mild honey
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons Lyle’s Golden Syrup (or light corn syrup)
cocoa nibs for sprinkling (optional)
chopped nuts for sprinkling (optional)

Instructions:
In a large saucepan combine water with honey, salt, and cocoa powder. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 1 minute, whisking constantly. The mixture should turn a shiny, deep brown.

Remove from heat and add chocolate pieces, vanilla extract, and syrup. Stir until chocolate is fully melted. Transfer mixture to bowl and place in freezer to chill thoroughly, about an hour.

Transfer the mixture to an ice-cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. *See note below.

Serve in chilled bowls with a garnish of cocoa nibs, nuts, or your favorite topping.

*I used my Kitchen Aid mixer’s “ice-cream maker” attachment to make the sorbet. Kitchen Aid recommends 20 minutes of processing to transform the liquid mixture to sorbet. Unfortunately, after 20+ minutes of mixing, my sorbet was still soupy. Not one to give up, I just transferred the mixture to a glass storage container and placed it in my freezer. A few hours later the mixture was frozen and we had sorbet!

In Patricia’s kitchen, I used a traditional ice-cream maker. The sorbet processed while we ate lunch and was ready to serve for dessert. Please follow your manufacturer’s instructions for specific processing times.

Ingredients for Bittersweet Chocolate and Honey Sorbet
Mise en Place
Water, honey, salt, and cocoa powder combined in a saucepan
Combine water, honey, salt, and cocoa powder. Bring to a boil.
Whisking cocoa mixture while it simmers
Simmer for one minute, whisking constantly. The mixture will turn a shiny deep brown.
Whisking in chocolate pieces to cocoa mixture
Remove from heat and add chocolate pieces. I didn’t have a bar of bittersweet chocolate on hand, so I used bittersweet chocolate chips.
Pouring chocolate mixture into glass bowl
Pour chocolate mixture into a bowl and place in freezer to chill.
Chocolate mixture in ice-cream maker
When thoroughly chilled, transfer mixture to your ice-cream maker and process according to your manufacturer’s directions.
Scooping out the Bittersweet Chocolate and Honey Sorbet
Sorry- we dug right into this bowl, before I had the chance to take a picture… leftovers went back into the freezer for another day.
Bittersweet Chocolate and Honey Sorbet sprinkled with cocoa nibs and served in a glass dish.
The sorbet melts fairly quickly, so it’s best served in a chilled dessert bowl or glass. Sprinkle with cocoa nibs, chopped nuts, or your favorite topping. Enjoy!

43 thoughts on “Bittersweet Chocolate and Honey Sorbet”

    1. Thank you, Suzanne! The honey plays so nicely with the bittersweet chocolate, it really is a lovely combination. The week was very inspiring and rejuvenating… I just hope no one gets bored reading about the trip and recipes.

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    1. It is pretty tasty! It only spent 20 minutes in the ice-cream maker and was still soupy when I transferred it to the freezer, so I’m not sure what the time spent “churning” really added to the final product. I think I should experiment and see if it’s possible to skip the ice-cream maker step for this sorbet.

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  14. I have to say that just looking at this and thinking about it makes me feel half crazed! If I were at home I’d be breaking out my ice-cream maker and I’m half inclined to run into the city and get one for my folks house and devote the rest of the afternoon making this!

    I am not going to be able to get the idea of chocolate sorbet out of my mind!!

    Mollie

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    1. Mollie, you are too too funny!!! It may be best for all involved to get yourself to an ice-cream maker stat. No one wants to get in between a half crazed woman and her chocolate sorbet! Please circle back if you ever get a chance to try this… would love to know how you make out. 😊

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    1. Thank you very much! I always associated sorbet with fruits as well… this bittersweet chocolate sorbet is delicious- intensely flavored, but not heavy. It’s really an unexpected and yummy alternative to traditional sorbet.

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