Rainbow Sorbet Terrine

My dad was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Celiac Disease is basically when your body is unable to digest gluten, resulting in damage to the small intestine, digestive and tummy troubles, problems absorbing vitamins in food, and multiple other health issues that vary from person to person.

After my dad was diagnosed, I started to become interested in learning more about gluten-free baking. A lot of desserts are naturally gluten free- crème brulee, curds and puddings, ice cream and sorbets, flourless chocolate cake, French Macarons the list goes on. However, a lot of desserts are NOT, including traditional cakes, cookies, etc.

All this is to say that in addition to not feeling very well over the past months, I progressively came to the realization that a lot of my health issues over the years have mirrored my father’s and I should get the blood test for Celiac as well. Mr. Pixie Crust and I have been seeing the same allergist (it’s really sweet- we have joint appointments) and yesterday we got the results of some tests. It looks like he may be sensitive to gluten and that I almost certainly have Celiac.

Ali and I have been placed on both a gluten free and (temporary) dairy free diet for two weeks. It seems pretty perfect that I happened to buy myself the KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment just last weekend because I have been a sorbet making machine and we can both eat it on our diet.

The terrine I made is composed of homemade pineapple, orange, and raspberry sorbet, but you could certainly make any flavors you like. You could also use store bought sorbet (soften before layering) for a really quick and easy, but impressive dessert.

If you have an ice cream maker, I would highly recommend making homemade sorbet- it's fresh, delicious, and light- as well as extremely easy to make.

For the Sorbets:

Raspberry
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups simple syrup
6 cups raspberries
1/4 cup water

Puree raspberries and water in blender and pour through fine mesh strainer. Push down on liquid to extract all of the puree. Discard solids. Place puree in freezer until very cold. Combine puree and syrup and freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

Pineapple
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups simple syrup
2 cups fresh pineapple puree
1/4 cup water

Place pineapple and water in blender and puree. Strain through sieve, discard solids. Place puree in freezer until very cold. Combine puree and simple syrup and freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

Orange
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups simple syrup
2 cups orange juice

Squeeze oranges over a fine mesh sieve until you have sufficient juice. Place juice in freezer until very cold. Combine puree and simple syrup and freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

For the simple syrup:

Combine 2 cups water and 2 cups sugar in a medium sauce pan. Place over medium heat until mixture is boiling and sugar is fully dissolved (about 10 minutes).

Place in the freezer until very cold.

To assemble the terrine:

Line pan with a layer of plastic wrap. Allow plastic wrap to hang over edges of pan at least a couple of inches.

After sorbet has been made in ice cream maker (it will firm up more after being place in the freezer), use an offset spatula to spread first layer of sorbet in a loaf pan or similar rectangular pan. Place in freezer for at least 3 hours. Next, layer next sorbet flavor in same manner. Freeze again for 3 hours. Layer last sorbet and freeze for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

Pint of Pineapple sorbet!