Between this ridiculous Frozen Margarita Pie and this Peach Lassi Sorbet with Crushed Blackberries, it appears I have granted senior food editor Andy Baraghani total control over all my frozen dessert-related plans for the rest of the summer.
These two genius, simpler-than-simple recipes share three things in common. They each have fewer than 10 ingredients. They don't require an ice cream maker. And they both call for a healthy splash of BOOZE, which makes all the difference in the world when you want to make something creamy and cold but don't want to put in...basically any effort (me, always). More on the booze in a second, but first: a bit of frozen-treats science.
There are lots of factors that can affect the texture of a frozen dessert, whether that's ice cream, gelato, sorbet, or granita. How much sugar, fat, and/or booze you use, what kind of ice cream maker you have (or don't have!), and the temperature of your freezer are just a few of them. Of these, adding a bit of booze to your recipe of choice is the simplest path to a softer scoop of sorbet or slice of frozen pie.
If you've ever stashed a bottle of gin in the freezer at the ready for martini-making, you know that liquor never actually freezes. That's because home freezers don't get cold enough to freeze anything more alcoholic than beer or wine, which are mostly water. Adding a bit of hard alcohol like vodka, tequila, or whiskey—all of which run around forty percent alcohol—to a frozen dessert helps prevent big ice crystals from forming in the mixture, resulting in a softer texture.
