Cranberry Buttermilk Sorbet

Jeff the Chef
"Cranberry Buttermilk Sorbet." from Make It Like a Man!

This Cranberry Buttermilk Sorbet is sweet, tart, and delicious … not to mention its gorgeous color.

Cranberry Buttermilk Sorbet
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Cranberry Buttermilk Sorbet

Recipe by Make It Like a Man!Course: Dessert
Makes

1

quart

This sorbet is scoopable right from the freezer, even after many days.

Ingredients

  • 8½ oz. (1¼ cups) granulated sugar

  • 1½ oz. (¼ cup) brown sugar

  • 12 oz. (1½ cups) water

  • 8¼ oz. (2 cups) fresh cranberries

  • 12 oz. (1½ cups) buttermilk

  • 1 Tbs vanilla

Directions

  • Prep
  • Place both sugars and the water into a medium-sized saucepot over medium-high heat. Stir until the sugars have dissolved. Reduce heat to medium, and allow syrup to continue to cook.
  • Meanwhile, mince the cranberries in a food processor until you reach a point that they’re sticking to the side of the bowl and will no longer process on their own. With the machine running, pour a scant ¼-cup of the hot syrup through the chute. Your goal is to coax the cranberry back to the bottom of the bowl, so that it will continue processing to a purée. Continue to add scant ¼-cups of syrup, waiting a few moments in between additions, until you achieve this goal. Continue to process for about 1 minute.
  • Pour the purée into the pot of hot syrup, stir, and bring the mixture to a boil. Boil until the mixture thickens to something syrupy and almost jammy, almost apple-saucy … but not quite, about 10 minutes. Off heat. Stir in the buttermilk and vanilla.
  • Pour the mixture into tightly-sealable container and refrigerate overnight.
  • Churn and Freeze
  • Churn and freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. For mine, it works like this:
  • Place the ice cream maker’s bowl into the freezer at least 24 hours prior to use.
  • Place the bowl onto the machine’s base, insert the mixing arm into the bowl, pour the sorbet mixture into the bowl, lock the lid in place, and switch on the machine. Let it run for 30 minutes.
  • Transfer the sorbet to a container, cover it tightly, and leave it in the freezer overnight.

Food for Thought:

As with many food definitions, you can think you have a handle on the differences among “ice cream,” “sherbet,” and “sorbet,” but the reality of the situation rarely turns out to be as neat as you’d prefer. Unlike most sorbets, this one contains a dairy product that may or may not be a form of milk, depending on your culinary leanings. Although I have no real business having an opinion on a subject like this, I call this cranberry sorbet a “sorbet” because the bits of berry in the finished sorbet give it a decidedly sorbet texture/vibe.

This is a seemingly impossible dessert. It’s a sorbet, so you’d think it’s a summertime thing, but it uses fresh cranberries, which are a wintertime thing. I’ll leave it to you to figure that out for yourself.

This recipe seems to imply that you could pour some buttermilk into your leftover, homemade, Thanksgiving cranberry sauce, and make a sorbet out of it.

If this sorbet has a flaw, it’s that its flavor doesn’t say “cranberry” in an obvious way. It says “berry,” for sure – and it’s unquestionably a pleasure. But if you’re expecting it to taste like an ice-cream version of cranberry sauce, it doesn’t. It seems like “mixed berry.” In any case, it is delicious.

This recipe is a modification of one from The Editors of Martha Stewart Living. 2007. “Cranberry Buttermilk Sorbet.” In The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The Original Classics, 400. New York: Clarkson Potter.

Cranberry Buttermilk Sorbet
Cranberry Buttermilk Sorbet

Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! Thank you, Kesor. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything.

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54 thoughts on “Cranberry Buttermilk Sorbet”

  1. Beautiful and attractive color, the consistency looks creamy like an Ice Cream. I haven’t used buttermilk , will have to try it out, and putting your bowl into the freezer before use is a great tip, thank you, Jeff!

    Reply

    • You’re welcome! It’s not as smooth as ice cream. It’s got a lot of cranberry bits in it, and although it’s really nice, I wouldn’t call it “creamy.”

      Reply

  2. I am going to have to try a variation of this. I am doing keto and have a lot of leftover holiday cranberries. The end results will not be exactly the same, but I am willing to give it a shot. Instead of a fancy ice cream maker, I have the old Donvier which is a hand cranked version of yours.

    Reply

    • Well, at least you’ll get a good workout beforehand to balance the calories!

      Reply

  3. Beautiful bowl of ice cream. I like the addition of the buttermilk for a tangier ice cream flavour combined with the cranberry puree.

    I have an old ice cream maker with the canister that you freeze, from the 90s, but rarely make that kind any more as I can never remember to pre-freeze the canister and there’s no room in my freezer to leave it in there until I get inspiration. TBH, I’ve made no churn ice cream with home made leftover cranberry sauce stirred in (marbled) and it’s pretty good.

    https://aboleyn01.wordpress.com/2017/11/22/technique-no-churn-ice-cream-cranberry-sauce/
    A_Boleyn recently posted…No Churn Ice Cream Duo

    Reply

    • Marbled-in cranberry ice cream sounds great! I have the same style ice cream maker. It does take up a bit of space, doesn’t it?

      Reply

  6. You know, I’m one of those guys that says ice cream (or sherbet or sorbet or granita or whatever else in that category) are a year-round dessert. I like the winter theme with the cranberries here! The buttermilk is intriguing, but I can see how that would add a fun layer of flavor. I need a bowl of this ASAP! We even have a couple bags of cranberries stashed in the freezer right now.
    David @ Spiced recently posted…Red Velvet Donuts

    Reply

    • Well then you’re all set! Get some extra buttermilk so you can make psncakes.

      Reply

  7. Jeff,
    What a dessert!!! I happen to love sorbet and have never had a cranberry sorbet. The color is exquisite and the recipe with the buttermilk sounds absolutely delicious. This would be perfect for Thanksgiving when you can easily find fresh cranberries.
    Judee recently posted…Broccoli Almond Soup

    Reply

    • I felt the same way. In the end, though, the texture is more like sorbet than ice cream or sherbet.

      Reply

  15. I’m good with “sorbet” for this, Jeff. It’s a knockout, though, whatever it’s called! And what a great use for leftover buttermilk and cranberries from the holidays.

    Reply

  17. This sounds wonderful! I have made plenty of ice cram but not a sorbet yet. Your comment about my beef heart recipe went to spam so I wanted you to know it is a very tasty meat. I also eat the tongue and tail. If you ever get a chance to try them you won’t be sorry. Have a great day!

    Reply

    • It’s worth having. Just plain old buttermilk sorbet is pretty amazing, even without the cranberries.

      Reply

  21. Oh my goodness that color! What a knockout dessert this is Jeff! Looks absolutely delicious, and the texture and flavor sound AMAZINGl. 😋

    Reply

  25. Colorful buttermilk sorbet, this looks beautiful and delicious, I have to try this type of varieties, Thank you for sharing awesome! recipe.

    Reply

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