Lemon Ice Torte
Author: 
Serves: 8
 
Ingredients
  • Crust:
  • 12 ounces blanched* almonds (either slivered or whole), toasted**
  • ½ cup sucanat (dehydrated cane juice) or cane sugar (I'm sure maple sugar or coconut sugar would work, but I haven't tried them)
  • 5 Tablespoons melted unsalted butter or coconut oil
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 pints lemon ice (or sorbet, sherbet or frozen yogurt of your choice)
  • Fresh berries
  • __________________________
  • Lemon Sherbet (makes 6 cups):
  • 4 cups water
  • 1¾ cups granulated sugar
  • Zest of 3 lemons
  • ½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • ½ cup heavy cream
Instructions
  1. If the bottom of your springform pan is not attractive and you want to remove the torte to serve on a pretty cake dish, brush the bottom of a 9-inch-diameter springform pan with melted butter or oil. Line with parchment paper. If you don't care what the torte is served on, skip this step.
  2. To make the crust: Combine almonds and sugar in food processor and chop finely. Transfer to a medium bowl.
  3. Add melted butter or coconut oil and cinnamon to almond mixture and combine well.
  4. Transfer to the springform pan. Press almond mixture firmly 1 ½ inches up sides and over the bottom of the pan. (A metal dry measuring cup can help do this.) Freeze 15 minutes.
  5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place pan with crust on cookie sheet and bake 20 minutes. If crust sides slip, press back in place with back of a fork. Transfer pan to rack and cool completely.
  6. To make lemon sherbet: combine the water, sugar and two-thirds of the lemon zest in a saucepan and heat to a simmer. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in the remaining lemon zest and lemon juice and allow to cool to room temperature.
  7. Whisk the cream into the mixture and refrigerate it until chilled, at least 2 hours.
  8. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.
  9. Soften lemon ice very slightly and spread over crust. Freeze until firm. When ready to serve, unmold sides of springform pan. If you lined the pan with parchment, you will be able to transfer (carefully) the torte to another serving platter. Garnish with berries on top and serve extra on the side, if desired.
Notes
*To blanche your own almonds, place raw whole almonds in a heat-proof bowl and add boiling water to cover. Let sit for 2 minutes, but not longer or they will get soggy. Drain in a colander. The skins will slip off very easily.
**To toast the almonds, place them on a cookie sheet in a 350 degree F oven until lightly golden. Toasting freshly blanched whole almonds takes longer than slivered almonds out of a bag. The process can take anywhere from 8 to 20 minutes, depending. Watch them closely! Nuts can go from toasted to burned in seconds.
Recipe by Pamela Salzman at https://pamelasalzman.com/lemon-ice-torte/