The Sorbet Inspired by The Princess Diaries That You’ve Always Wanted to Make

In the sorbet scene of “The Princess Diaries,” waiters serve green sorbet while the prime minister of Genovia, seated next to princess-in-the-making Mia Thermopolis, explains to her that it’s taken between courses to cleanse the palate. Mia then eats a large spoonful and immediately whimpers in pain because she didn’t realize it was frozen. The prime minister and his wife proceed to take their own giant bites of sorbet, with brain freeze-induced chaos.

Recipe developer Michelle Bottalico has created a copycat recipe for the iconic “Princess Diaries” sorbet, which is both a nod to the actual scene from the movie and one towards pears themselves, which are the national fruit of the fictional country of Genovia. The result is deliciously sweet and refreshing, with the natural flavors of ripe pears and fresh mint really coming through. Pear sorbet has a creamy beige color, so green food coloring is used to bring the color up to “Princess Diaries” levels, but you can leave that out if you don’t mind a more subdued color. This recipe doesn’t require an ice cream maker, so you’ll just need to mix the sorbet with a fork a few times while it freezes, and you’ll have a Genovian-quality frozen treat ready to enjoy in a few hours.

For this recipe, you will need four ripe red d’Anjou pears, but other sweet varieties of pears could be substituted if needed. Once the pears are peeled and diced, the quantity should be about 4 cups. Plan ahead because pears can take some time to ripen. You’ll also need water, granulated sugar, fresh mint leaves, and lime juice. Finally, the recipe calls for green food coloring to color the sorbet like the movie version, but it will taste the same if you decide to leave that out.

Place the water and sugar in a medium saucepan and heat on medium high until the water is very hot, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

Remove the pan from the heat, tear the mint leaves in half, and add them to the liquid. Let sit for 20 minutes to infuse before removing the mint. Set aside to cool completely, about 30 minutes.

Place the pears in a food processor and blend until smooth. (Or blend them in a bowl with an immersion blender.)

Add the sugar mixture, lime juice, and 3 to 4 drops of green food coloring and blend again until well combined. Add another 1 to 2 drops of food coloring or more to reach the color desired.

Transfer the pear mixture to a metal loaf pan and cover tightly with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic to the surface of the mixture. Let chill in the refrigerator for about 2 hours until very cold.

Move the pan to the freezer and freeze for 4 to 6 hours or until it’s firm and able to be scooped. Remove the pan from the freezer every hour during the first 4 hours and energetically mix the sorbet with a fork. This hand churning will create a smoother sorbet.

Scoop the sorbet into individual dishes and garnish with mint leaves. Serve immediately.

Sorbet is often made in an ice cream maker because the machine freezes the mixture quickly and does the churning for you. If sorbet isn’t agitated while it freezes, too many ice crystals form, which prevent it from having the scoopable consistency it needs. The high sugar content of sorbet also helps with the texture, keeping it from getting too hard and difficult to scoop. If you use a liquid sweetener instead of granulated sugar, adding a little alcohol can help the sorbet from freezing too hard, since alcohol doesn’t freeze. That’s a good opportunity to add flavor with liqueurs like amaretto or limoncello, depending on what pairs well with your recipe.

Just like making no-churn ice cream, it’s also possible to make sorbet without an ice cream maker, as this recipe shows. This is ideal if you don’t have an ice cream maker or don’t want to invest in one for an occasional treat. An ice cream maker is also bulky and you have to remember to freeze the canister up to a day in advance. Hand churning produces similar results, although some ice crystals may still form. The only investment is time. You’ll need to take the pan out of the freezer every hour or so and give it an energetic whisking with a fork or spoon to break up ice crystals as the sorbet freezes. Don’t skip this step if you want a scoopable sorbet.

We wish we could get our hands on a few perfect Genovian pears, but in the meantime, we’ll use fruit we can get in the real world. We recommend red d’Anjou pears because they’re a sweet, juicy, and smooth variety (green d’Anjou pears will work as well). Bartlett pairs are also sweet, soft, and juicy when ripe and are another good choice. Comice pears and Asian pears are other varieties often chosen for their sweetness and would also work in sorbet.

Whatever pears you choose, make sure they’re nice and ripe. Completely ripe pears will be the sweetest and most flavorful, which is a must for sorbet. Just make sure they haven’t turned the corner and started to go bad, or the flavor will be too strong. Unripe pears lack flavor and are too firm and starchy. If you’re stuck with unripe pears when it’s time to make sorbet, you’ll need to cook them first. Peel, seed, and chop the pears and cook them on low in a pan with a few tablespoons of water until tender. They won’t be as sweet, but you’ll be able to blend them. If fresh pears aren’t available, you can quickly make homemade sorbet with canned fruit if you need to.