Dear Ice Cream:

Welcome to Dumpsville: Population, You. There’s a new kid in town. Hawaii…Meet the Heartland.

I’m just kidding, of course, about dumping ice cream. I could never abandon my sweet, creamy love. However….there’s this little problem of me wanting to break out my KA ice cream maker attachment seriously every other day. Not so great for the ole’ waistline. So how do I get my summertime fix of all things cool and refreshing during these hot days without adding all that extra padding around the middle? Why, make SORBET, of course!! 🙂

Last Saturday we had some friends over for a cookout and one of Eric’s friends brought over a huge bowl of fresh, delicious raspberries. I asked him where he got them and he said they grew in his backyard. Wow! I was so excited! Of course, I just chowed down on some of them, but I had so many I had to come up with something to make with them so they didn’t go to waste! A fresh delicious sorbet sounded perfect.

In my humble opinion, the addition of pineapple just makes any berry dessert to die for. It’s sweetness balances any tartness. Hawaii meets the Heartland here in my kitchen. Sweet pineapple plus locally grown raspberries equals cool, refreshing heaven.

RASPBERRY-PINEAPPLE SORBET(Recipe Inspiration: The Ultimate Ice Cream Book by Bruce Weinstein)

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups of frozen or fresh pineapple chunks (I used frozen, just easier and guaranteed sweet)
2 cups fresh raspberries
Juice of half a lime

DIRECTIONS:

Combine sugar and water in a saucepan, heat over low heat until the sugar dissolves and the syrup is clear. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Place raspberries, pineapple, lime juice and syrup in a blender and blend until very smooth. Pour through a strainer to remove seeds. Freeze immediately in your ice cream maker. Transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze two hours.