Blood Orange Vegan Jelly with Toasted Almond Sorbet

Oh hello, Spring! I’m glad you’re here!I love Spring in Brisbane. Not too hot, not too cold and in the words of Goldilocks in her search for the perfect temperature porridge “it’s just right”.

Even though Spring is here I thought I’d go back to winter for a moment and share another delicious blood orange recipe so you can make the most of the last of winters blood oranges.

This beautiful blood orange vegan jelly couldn’t be simpler to make. Or more pretty in its vermillion red hue.

You’ll need a few blood oranges to make the juice (around 7 for this recipe). While you can buy blood orange juice, it is quite expensive. I’ve also noticed, in Australia at least, a lot of brands seem to dilute the juice with regular orange juice. So stick to fresh for this recipe. Otherwise, you won’t end up with such a vibrant jelly.

You’ll also need to strain the juice to remove any pulp, which you can add to a cake, to make this vegan jelly. I also like to zest the oranges before juicing them too, so nothing goes to waste.

To accompany this beautiful blood red vegan jelly I’ve gone for a sorbet made from toasted almonds.

I love the deep nutty flavour that lingers somewhere between coffee and chocolate. And just like the jelly, the sorbet is a cinch to make too.

However, you will need an ice cream maker. An ice cream maker needn’t be an expensive investment. This is the one I have.

So tell me, what is your favourite season of the year?

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Vegan Blood Orange Jelly with Toasted Almond Sorbet

Servings 4

Author Jennifer Schmidt

Ingredients

TOASTED ALMOND SORBET:

• 1 cup raw almonds heaped cup
• 3 1/2 cups water
• 50 g liquid glucose/ glucose syrup (2 1/2 tbs) note if you are using Australian tbs measures this will be 2 tbs
• 95 g raw sugar (1/3 cup)
• 2 tsp Amaretto liqueur or Vodka
• 1 tsp lemon juice

BLOOD ORANGE JELLY

• 7 - 8 blood oranges
• 1 tsp agar agar powder

Instructions

1. Begin by making the sorbet. Preheat the oven to 180 celsius (350 fahrenheit) and place the almonds on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring halfway through, until fragrantly toasty. Leave to cool.
2. Place the nuts in a bowl and cover with 3 cups water. Leave for 12 to 24 hours to soak.
3. Drain the nuts and place in a blender with the water. Blend for 2 to 3 minutes before straining through cheesecloth or a nut milk bag. Squeeze out as much of the almond milk as you can.
4. Place the remaining half cup of water in a saucepan along with the sugar and liquid glucose. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes until all of the sugar is dissolved.
5. Pour into a large bowl along with the almond milk, amaretto and lemon juice. Refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours or until completely chilled.
6. Churn the almond milk mixture in your ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions. Decant into a freezer safe container and freeze.
7. Juice the oranges until you have 2 cups (500mls) of juice. Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Taste the juice. If you find it too tart add 2 tsp of raw sugar. Add the agar powder and whisk to combine. Leave for 10 minutes.
8. Place the juice in a saucepan and bring to a boil, over a medium heat. Reduce to a simmer, whisking ocassionally. Simmer for 5 minutes.
9. Pour the juice into serving dishes and refrigerate for 4 hours or until chilled.
10. To serve top the jelly with a scoop of sorbet.

Recipe Notes

1. The liquid glucose helps create a lovely scoopable sorbet by controlling the formation of sugar crystals. While you can replace the liquid glucose with regular sugar, corn syrup, golden syrup or even honey (obviously not vegan then) the sorbet consistency will be affected. In Australia you'll find liquid glucose in the baking aisle of your supermarket. In the United States it is harder to find, but you can find it on Amazon here. 2. The small amount of lemon juice in the sorbet recipe helps counter the slight bitterness from the almonds. 3. The use of Amaretto or Vodka also helps ensure that the sorbet is scoopable from the refrigerator. 4. If you have agar flakes use 1 tbs of flakes for every 1 tsp of powder. Agar agar powder is commonly found in health food shops here in Australia. Outside Australia you can find it here on Amazon