Guava Sorbet
When I moved to NYC to attend cooking school, I dove right in. I got several part-time jobs in a variety of locales. Basically, I worked for anyone who would hire me. Early morning. Late night. Magnolia Bakery didn’t bite, but there was a bakery (now closed) in the West Village off Jane Street, run by a fiery Cuban woman who agreed to put me on the schedule. After a late night of work as a hostess, I would drag myself in early the next morning to this strange bakery, almost the only motivation being a pastelito, a Cuban puff pastry topped with cane sugar and filled with guava paste and cream cheese. It was the most delicious and different pastry I had ever tasted, and I knew I’d want to use the flavor combo one day. One time, when we were changing the menu at Ko and I was on a breakfast-inspired kick (guava and cream cheese is a classic breakfast pairing in many Spanish-speaking cultures), an idea took hold. I knew guava would bring the perfect acidity to a pre-dessert, and combining it with liquid cheesecake, which always makes me happy, was a no-brainer.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Use the back of a spoon to schmear (see page 29) a quarter of the liquid cheesecake into each of 4 bowls.
Step 2
Make a quenelle (see page 28) or scoop of sorbet, transfer it to a clean spoon, and gently lower it into the cream cheese skin, then remove it immediately—the cold temperature of the guava sorbet will set the gelatin in the cream cheese mixture and create a “skin” around the sorbet. Place the enrobed sorbet in the center of 1 of the schmeared bowls. Repeat to make quenelles for the remaining bowls. Serve immediately.
