Vegan Horchata Sorbet

Happy Friday people! I’m a little preoccupied with the prospect of the glorious spring weekend ahead, so today’s post is going to be as fast as today’s recipe (hint: pretty dang fast). As promised, this is an effortless, make-ahead dessert perfect for Cinco de Mayo, or any occasion that calls for creamy, surprisingly vegan deliciousness. Sweet and simple!

If you’re not familiar with horchata, it’s a sweet and creamy rice-based beverage, flavored with cinnamon and served in abundance in any worthwhile taco shop. And now, we can eat a bowl of it frozen for dessert!

Instead of the time-consuming steeping, blending, and straining of rice and aromatics required to make horchata from scratch, this recipe reproduces the flavors with purchased ingredients (slightly processed but largely “whole” foods) that are ready to simply mix together and freeze.

I used a mixture of rice milk and coconut milk, to keep a balance of traditional flavor while still including enough fat to prevent the whole batch from freezing into a giant icy popsicle. The end product has a creamy taste and snowy consistency. After testing a few batches, I found that I preferred the cinnamon flavor on the subtle side, with the option to kick it up with an extra sprinkle as a topping.

I’m aware that the desserts on this website have a skew in the frozen direction… it’s just too much fun as an artistic medium for getting creative with flavors. If you love ice cream, your kitchen needs an ice cream maker. For my recipes, I use this attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer, but most of the inexpensive single-use appliances do just as well.

The only problem with having one is the urge to turn every food/drink into a frozen dessert. You’ve been warned!