Happy Memorial day!! Although the official first day of summer is still a couple of weeks away, we’re prepping you by giving you a “cool” homemade dessert. I went on vacation to Florida back in April (while, somehow, it was still freezing in the Northeast) and I saw lemon basil sorbet on a menu. I’ll take two, please. Of course, I had to come home and try to make it for myself. I’m a real sucker for herbs in anything – cocktails, desserts,  facewash. No joke.  Plus, how hard could it be to make a glorified icee?

*If you’re using an ice cream maker like I did, don’t forget to freeze it overnight before making this recipe. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, don’t worry, you can still make this!

•  3 cups of water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup large basil leaves
• 1 cup of lemon juice
• 2 tbsp lemon zest

Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. When fully combined, turn off the heat, throw in all of the basil and let it steep for 10 minutes.  This will create a basil syrup. Once cooled, strain out the basil leaves and add in the lemon juice and lemon zest. (Not gonna lie, throw in some vodka and this could be an awesome cocktail!) Hook up your frozen ice maker and slowly pour in the lemon basil syrup creating an icee/sorbet consistency. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, pour it in to an airtight container and store in the freezer, scraping it with a fork every hour until you get that sorbet consistency.

You can store this in an airtight container for up to three months.

Happy Eating, XO.