Have you ever fallen in love with a food product – something you really love – and the manufacturer discontinues it??? This seems to happen to us a lot  (especially at Trader Joe’s). Just the other day we were lamenting that Dryer’s discontinued its Swiss Orange Chip Sherbet. We miss it so much! It was the perfect, refreshing treat for these hot summer days.

While cleaning out the freezer recently, Jenn came across a container of blood orange juice she’d frozen earlier in the year from her abundant crop of back yard blood oranges…and then it hit us…why not make our own version of this beloved treat we miss so much?!? We immediately went to work on a recipe, and here’s what we came up with – Blood Orange Sherbet with Dark Chocolate Flecks – a delicious and refreshing twist on our old favorite!

Note: You can certainly make this recipe using regular oranges instead of the blood oranges (which we know are not in season right now ☹), just keep in mind that you may want to reduce the sugar a bit depending on the sweetness of your oranges.

Very few, simple ingredients!

Mmmm…so refreshing!

Blood Orange Sherbet with Dark Chocolate Flecks

• 2 cups blood orange juice
• 2 TBS grated blood orange zest
• 1 TBS lemon juice
• 2/3 cup superfine sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 1 ½ cups whole milk
• 4 oz dark chocolate

Place the blood orange juice, zest, lemon juice, sugar vanilla and sea salt in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Whirl until well combined and sugar is dissolved, about 1 minute. Place mixture in medium non-reactive bowl. Whisk in the milk until well blended. Cover and place in refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours, preferably overnight.

Process in ice cream maker and process according to manufacturers directions. While sherbet processes, melt chocolate in microwave or over double boiler. Place melted chocolate in zip lock bag. Cut a very small hole in one corner of the zip lock bag. Once the sherbet starts to look slushy (after about 15 minutes in our ice cream maker) and with machine still churning, slowly drizzle the chocolate into the sherbet. The chocolate will freeze as the sherbet churns, forming flecks of frozen chocolate. Continue processing until the mixture is of sherbet consistency. Immediately remove to a freezer safe container with a tight-fitting lid. Allow to freeze overnight before serving.

Makes about 1 quart