Recipe: Home made sherbet dib dab with salted caramel lollies

Menu:
Stevie Nicks cocktail (Raspberry liqueur, Californian vodka Hanger One citron, Cava)
Artichoke baked with chervil, garlic and breadcrumbs with mustard dipping sauce.
Seared ahi tuna with black sesame seed crust
Blood orange, avocado and alfalfa salad
Baked potato with cottage cheese
Stevie Nickerbocker Glory
Home made sherbet dib dab, salted caramel lollies and straw

Stevie Nicks is a rock star par excellence. If I’d had the money, I would have had my living room painted pink and installed a grand piano, just for the night, something she insisted upon whenever she stayed in a hotel on tour. Instead I riffed on her ‘coke up the bum’ story by creating my own sherbet dib dab with lolly and straw. I even tried snorting the sherbet. It had a similar effect to cocaine: a sensation of fizz, the conviction that I am a master of the universe and a runny nose. It’s probably best to stick to an oral method for this recipe however.

The Sherbet

100g of icing sugar
2 tsps of citric acid (you can buy it in an Asian shop)
2 tsps of Baking soda

Mix together. That’s it. Put in more icing sugar if you want more sweetness.

The lollies.

100ml light corn syrup (available from American shops like Panzers)
30ml of water
7ml of vinegar
150g sugar
10g salt
200g butter, diced
5ml vanilla extract
Lollipop sticks
Silpat or greaseproof paper
Sugar thermometer (Buy a sugar thermometer! Like NOW. Yes this minute! You need this in your life. Seriously, life is way better when you have a sugar thermometer. Ok? You can buy this one, but this one is even better and the markings don’t wear off. You can also temper chocolate with it, check if your fish is cooked and stuff like that.)

Put the corn syrup, water, vinegar, sugar and salt into a saucepan and heat until the sugar is melted. Then add the cubes of butter. Heat to 150ºc. Brush the inside rim of the pan with water to stop crystallisation.
When it gets to the desired temperature, take the pan off the boil and add the vanilla extract. Leave for a couple of minutes to cool so the mixture thickens.
Then, spoon (carefully, I got a big blister when I did this, so use a long handled spoon) circles of the caramel onto your silpat (buy one of these too. I mean it. )
Press the last 2 cms of the lolly stick into the circle of caramel. Then rotate the stick slightly so the stick is covered with caramel.
Great for a kids party or for silly adults.