Vanilla Poundcakes with Peach Ginger Sorbet- WWW

Doesn't that look good, a cool, creamy, peach sorbet nestled in a vanilla poundcake? What if I told you that you could have this treat guilt free? Well, you can! This is my entry for this week's Weight Watcher Wednesday. I found the recipes on the weightwatcher.com site (don't worry, links will be provided). Okay, so I had my recipes, now I wanted an occasion to serve them. Again, no problem. This was my week to host the neighbor gals S&B. For those unfamiliar, that stand for Stitch n Bitch. We get together at the home of one of the group, have a nice little treat, provided by the hostess, then continue on knitting and "chatting". I was lucky to be able to have everyone site outside on the patio surrounded by the garden since we meet early before the heat gets too bad. I served these treats along with a glass of vanilla rose sun tea, only the best for my girls. We all agreed, hands down, this was delicious!

I have to admit, I had a bit of a snafu when baking the cakes. The recipe calls for spraying the baking pan. I decided to make individual cakes, in muffins tins with baking papers, and did not spray. You can probably guess what happened, they stuck. So, I made a second batch, sans the papers, and baked them in tins that had been sprayed. Much better. I saved the first batch and came up with a yummy trifle, that will be another post.

Back to the WW post. The Vanilla Pound Cake can easily be made in advance. It kept nicely, wrapped in cling film on the counter. Any longer and I would wrap and freeze. The only changes I made were to use my vanilla sugar and I baked them in muffins pans (thus the name, poundcakes). If you bake them in the tins, adjust the cooking time to 25-30 min.

I made no changes at all to the Peach Ginger Sorbet. The sorbet ingredients were assembled the day before, then I processed in the ice cream machine just before our meeting. It was done in 25 minutes, then I gave it about 30 more minutes in the freezer. At this point it was still fairly soft and creamy, which is the texture I wanted. I did take the advice in the article and place the mix and dasher in the freezer for 5 minutes before placing in the machine. I have no doubt that you could vary the fruit and seasoning, this seems a reliable recipe.

Vanilla Poundcakes
makes 12 poundcakes
POINTS® Value: 4

2 large egg(s)
3 large egg white(s)
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
8 oz light cream cheese(room temperature)
3 1/2 Tbsp butter(room temperature)
1 1/3 cup vanilla sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
white sanding sugar(optional)

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat 2 regular muffin tins with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, egg whites, vanilla extract and almond extract; set aside.
In a separate bowl light mix the sugar, baking powder and salt until blended.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter until blended.

Beat in flour and egg mixture, little by little, beginning and ending with flour.

Pour batter into prepared pans, sprinkle with the sanding sugar and bake until a wooden toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 25 to 30minutes.
Cool cake in pan on a wire rack.

Peach and Ginger Sorbet
makes 8 half cup servings
POINTS® value per serving: 2

1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
2 tsp dried ground ginger
1 1/2 pounds fresh peaches, pitted and quartered
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt

Combine the water, sugar, corn syrup, and ground ginger in a small saucepan set over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a simmer; boil 1 minute without stirring. Set aside 5 minutes to cool.



Pour the sugar mixture into a large blender or food processor fitted with the chopping blade. Add the peaches, lemon juice, and salt. Blend or process until puréed. Pour into a large bowl, cover, and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.



Place the mixture and the dasher (the plastic piece that aerates the sorbet in the freezer for 5 minutes prior to processing in the machine. Pour the mixture into an ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.