Celebratory Sorbets: Strawberry, Champagne and Elderflower Sorbet

It's been a bit of a wondrously happy week for us here at Vinspire. We've given away the third of our summer giveaway prizes, we've sipped some beautiful wines in the sunshine and we've surpassed 1000 fans on our Facebook page! So I decided this was ample reason to whip up a celebratory dessert or frozen cocktail creation.

The strawberries are SO good at this time of year that I had to include some of them, and I had some delicious (also in season) elderflower cordial to use up, and I think there's really only one perfect boozy accompaniment to these guys: CHAMPAGNE! It is a celebration, after all.

This sorbet is crazily easy to make (mine was ready to pop in the freezer within 20 minutes) and doesn't need an ice cream machine so literally anyone can make it. If you do have an ice cream machine, by all means use it - you'll get a smoother result - but I don't have one and it still turned out AWESOME (as you can see in the photos!)

Of course you don't have to use Champagne if you don't want to or can't afford it - any sparkling wine will be lovely, particularly a good prosecco or decent cava. I'll admit, I actually used a Cremant de Limoux in my recipe, and saved the Laurent-Perrier to drink WITH the dessert instead of in it...

Strawberry, Champagne and Elderflower sorbet recipe (serves four ample portions or three greedy ones!)

Ingredients:

• 300g strawberries (or whatever the punnet size is at your supermarket of choice!)
• 80ml elderflower cordial
• 300ml champagne or your sparkling wine of choice
• 225g caster sugar

How to Make It:

1. In a small pan, gently heat the champagne and sugar together until the sugar is all dissolved (it will probably take about 3 minutes if you stir it). Then bring the mixture to the boil and let it simmer for around 5 minutes. Allow to cool (I put mine in the fridge and it was ready in 5!)

2. Whizz the strawberries in a blender and add the elderflower cordial - give it a good mix and allow the flavours to blend while the champagne syrup cools. If you're particularly house proud you can sieve the strawberry mixture to get rid of the seeds, but it honestly won't matter if you don't (I was feeling lazy and decided I didn't have time!)

3. Once the champagne syrup is totally cool, stir it together with the strawberry mixture (you'll need to work at it for a minute or so until the two mixtures blend properly.) Pour it into a shall tray or tupperware container and pop it in the freezer.

4. Take it out to give it a stir every so often (I did it every 40 minutes or so) for around 6-8 hours or until it's nice and scoopable. Serve with a glass of champagne - either in a separate glass or poured over the top for an extra refreshing after dinner treat.

Et voila! A boozy, fruity sorbet that's incredibly moreish. I particularly love this because you get the flavours in waves - first strawberry, then elderflower, then champagne. Here's to more brilliant weeks - I hope yours was just as good!