Homemade Frosted Lemons

📝 Ingredients

• 4 large unwaxed lemons (about 150 g each, for the shells)
• 1 unwaxed lemon (about 120 g, for the zest and juice)
• 140 g caster sugar
• 200 ml water
• 1 very fresh egg white
• 1 pinch of salt
• 4 fresh mint leaves (to serve)

🍴 Utensils

• Fine grater
• Citrus juicer
• Sieve
• Saucepan
• Freezer-proof container
• Electric hand mixer

📖 Steps

1. Wash and dry the 5 lemons. Finely grate the zest of the lemon set aside for juicing, taking only the yellow part (the white pith is bitter), then squeeze it. Set the zest and juice aside separately.
2. Make the syrup: bring the water and sugar to the boil in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, then boil for 2 min. Off the heat, add the zest and leave to cool completely, about 30 min.
3. Meanwhile, cut a lid about 1.5 cm thick off the top of the 4 large lemons, and a very thin slice off the base so they stand upright, without piercing the peel. Scoop out the insides with a teaspoon over a sieve set over a bowl, scraping down to the white pith.
4. Press the pulp collected in the sieve with the back of the spoon to extract all the juice and add it to the reserved juice: you need about 200 ml of juice in total. Put the empty shells and their lids in a container in the freezer.
5. Mix the cold syrup with the lemon juice, pour into a freezer-proof container and freeze for 1 hr 30 min, until the mixture has set at the edges and is slushy in the centre. Then scrape it all up with a fork to break up the crystals.
6. Whisk the egg white with the pinch of salt to stiff peaks using an electric whisk: it should form a peak when you lift the beaters. Whisk it into the scraped sorbet until the mixture is frothy and smooth, then return to the freezer.
7. Stir vigorously with a fork every 45 min, 2 or 3 times (1 hr 30 min to 2 hr 15 min), until you have a firm, smooth, very white sorbet. This regular stirring is what prevents large ice crystals.
8. Fill the frozen shells with sorbet using a teaspoon, packing it down well, shape a nice dome and put the lids back on. Refreeze for at least 1 hr. Take out 10 min before serving, with a mint leaf tucked under each lid.