Sunday, August 10, 2014

Dairy and egg-free Granita

Italian granita is a deliciously refreshing treat on a warm day and a good dessert choice. 
 It's grainier than sorbet and usually less sweet-- given that the most popular flavors are coffee and lemon. 
  So -- you all knew where this was going--last night I tried making granita. 
I chose lemon because my family aren't coffee lovers. ( unlike me!)
 The true Italians pour the sugar and coffee (or lemon) into a pan and put it in the freezer and then stir every 30 Minutes!!! --for a couple of hours. 
 But, I'm much lazier than that. 
So I mixed up the sugar and water and squeezed in six lemons. And stirred it all together and poured it into an ice tray! When it froze up, I cracked the cubes out of the tray and pulsed them in my
mini- food processor. And violá I had granita! 
 Recipe:
Orange granita-- which was more of a hit than lemon at my house. 
3/4 cup water 
1 1/4 cups orange juice ( with pulp is   good)
1/4 cup sugar-- more if you like sweeter 
One lemon
One ice tray

Heat water and sugar together until sugar dissolved
Pour into orange juice and stir well
Pour into ice tray
Squeeze lemon over the ice cubes 
( I put some chopped candied orange rinds in sometimes)
Freeze

Get those orange ice cubes out of the tray, pulse in food processor until the mixture is crushed but not slurry. 
Serve!