Honeysuckle Sorbet

I recently came across a recipe for elderflower sorbet made by David Lebovitz, and not having any of that particular flower available at the moment I decided to use honeysuckle instead.  This recipe is worth trying with just about any edible wild flower I expect, especially if they have a strong enough flavoured flower to withstand the strong lemon flavour. The honeysuckle does have a good honey taste, and could be detected, but I would have liked it a little stronger. Maybe next time, double the amount of flowers or reduce the amount of lemon.

I picked mostly young buds, not fully opened and soaked them in the hot syrup overnight as recommended. I followed Lebovitz’s recipe exactly except I used 1 full cup of flowers instead of his 1/3 to 1/2 and I strained the lemon juice to get rid of any pulp.

The sorbet tasted distinctly of lemon with a light honeysuckle after taste. It was not as sweet as I expected, although I could hardly be surprised given the generous amount of lemon.

I’m not sure why I have never made sorbet before. If this summer continues to be as hot as it has been, I’m sure I will be making a lot more, and this recipe will form the base of them all.

Related posts:  Honeysuckle Ice Cream; Honeysuckle Syrup

Linked to: Fiesta Friday #226, Jhuls at The Not So Creative Cook.

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Lavender Honey Babas

F0r Angie’s First Fiesta Friday challenge calling for a recipe using yeast and a herb, I have made one of my favourite desserts with some modifications. The cake is a recipe I have used many times for baba au rhum, but decided a spring version was called for, using the flavour of lavender, sweetened with honey and made pretty with wild flowers of the season.  The lavender is from my garden, and the foraged flowers are from my lawn/fields. For the lavender infused sugar, simply mix dried lavender with sugar and allow to stand at least a week. If you have lavender infused honey, that would work too.

Babas are easy  to make – really just a cake with yeast which gives it a spongy texture, perfect for soaking up any syrup you choose to use, although you will be hard pressed to find a recipe calling for anything other than the rum syrup traditionally used. There is no kneading involved, and the rest times are short – around 20 minutes. The syrup can be made in advance, but should be heated before drizzling over the hot babas. The batter filled 6 individual moulds and one small bundt pan, but you can also do all in one big pan or about 12 individual ones.

• Servings: 12
• Time: 75 mins
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Babas

4 tsp yeast

2 cups bread flour

2 tsp sugar

1 stick or 1/2 cup butter, melted

1/3 cup milk

1/2 tsp salt

Mix all the ingredients together. You will have a cake-like batter. Let it rest, covered with a tea towel for twenty minutes (more or less depending on the temperature of your kitchen). The batter should look spongey when you stir it. Stir it thoroughly to get rid of all the bubbles. Fill the mould/s about half full, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for another 20 min. They will have doubled in size by this time.

Bake in a 350 F. oven for fifteen to twenty minutes, depending on the size of the moulds, and 30 min. if using one bundt pan. They should be golden in colour and feel cooked to the touch.

Remove them from the pans and pour syrup over them, slowly, allowing the syrup to soak into the cakes. Scoop up any that runs off and reapply it to get as much syrup into it as possible. When cooled, sprinkle with more lavender sugar, garnish with whipped cream to which lavender sugar has been added and, if you like, wild edible flowers as available or preserved flowers.

Lavender Honey Syrup

1 cup liquid honey

1 cup sugar syrup (made by 2 parts sugar to 1 part water)

3 tsp finely ground lavender-infused sugar

Just before the babas are baked, heat the honey, syrup and sugar.