Can You Granita This?

Cold Brew Granita

We’re currently having a heatwave… no, not a tropical heatwave (Oh gee, I just dated myself). Tropical heatwaves might be more welcome because in that situation, I am envisioning that there is a beach and tropical cocktails involved. 

That is not the case here... we have this dry desert heat in this place that we call Northern California. AAAARGH! I am treating this as an emergency situation and opting to mostly stay inside – similar to house arrest. In this sweltering heat, I find myself thinking about cool things to keep myself from mental heat exhaustion. Things like shaved ice, winter ski trips, Jokulsarlon Lagoon in Iceland, or even watching Game of Thrones when they go North of the Wall (oh wait, that's Iceland too).

I also found myself looking back to my summer of granita and sorbets, more specifically – making my own granitas. I never made granitas before this year -- maybe because I had some free time last summer or just time to rest my mind, expand my horizons and had a chance apply what I have read.

It all began with a Strawberry Lemonade Granita. I had some left-over Strawberry Lemonade from Sauced BBQ.  After my free refill, I felt full so I opted to bring the rest home (along with half of that yummy baked sweet potato, but I digress). I intended to enjoy it through the rest of the day, but looking at the cold beverage and its gorgeous pinkish color, I remembered reading about how to make granita: put the selected beverage (preferably very sweet) in the freezer and “agitate” occasionally. The lemonade was indeed very sweet and that is why there are some left-overs. Seems easy enough... since I was home for the rest of the afternoon, I decided to give that a try. Also, it was a different way to use leftover juice.

I loved the results. I was hooked.

From that time on, I started playing “Can you granita this?”. Cold Brew Coffee was my next victim (first picture above). I found a recipe for coffee granita from Martha Stewart and started with those proportions. I typically cut the sugar by a third: so instead of 1/2 cup of sugar, I used about 6 Tablespoons for 3 cups or 2 T per cup. I still thought that it was a bit excessive, so I ended up using less (Please sweeten to your liking. I was tasting it, i.e. caffeinating, as I add sugar, 1 teaspoon at a time).

Martha’s recipe also used homemade whipped cream. Although I was initially resisting making my own, an older lady at the store convinced me to do so. She said it was so easy to make it with the mixer (She has a manual handheld one) and once you do it, you’ll never come back to pre-made whipped cream in a can (or tub).

After reading what was in ready-made whipped cream, I was convinced. There is so much extra stuff in there that I'd rather know what is in it - cream, sugar and vanilla extract. I bought heavy whipping cream and the results blew my mind. Another twist was I ran out of vanilla extract. I ended up using almond extract. If you have not tried that – give it a try. It will immediately transport you to Italy.

My next challenge was how to get rid of all the watermelon we bought for the potluck. Can I granita watermelon juice? Well, even better – This watermelon sorbet recipe from Delish.com said I can sorbet it. No Maddifications this time – although I considered adding a mint simple syrup instead of using sugar. But that means I have to figure out to make simple syrup (not that there is anything wrong with that). Adding sugar so much easier. I did garnish it with mint.

Chai Tea! Yes, chai tea was definitely something I’ve always wanted to granita. This is actually perfect because it’s a great way to freeze the extra chai tea that I have when I buy the Tazo Chai concentrates. It was also an awesome way to end an Indian-inspired meal. The chai granita really worked although I am still working on the whipped cream combination, though. Regular whipped cream or even almond whipped cream does not do the trick.

Strawberries were obviously not safe to the “Can you Granita this challenge?” I was going to meet my sister at the farmer’s market and deliberately overbought strawberries for my nieces. However, she texted me and said that something came up – bummer. However, the next day as I was munching on strawberries, visions of strawberry sorbet came to my mind. This strawberry sorbet recipe I used was from King Arthur Flour. This time I did make simple syrup (and was wondering how to make basil simple syrup).

The sorbet turned out to be too sweet even though I cut down on the sugar. Perhaps the strawberries were sweet as it was. The sorbet itself was somewhat more difficult to keep scoop-perfect… But really, who cares – it's strawberry sorbet.

I did end up with an excellent solution to solve the sweetness: Get some sparkling water and some of strawberry’s friends like blueberries and blackberries. Put a scoop in a glass, pour some sparkly and pop some berries. Refreshing!!! (I wish I had some of that sorbet right now.)

It was an great way to spend the summer. I learned new techniques and have something to add to my repertoire.  This was a cool (yes, pun intended) way of making your own frozen desserts without an ice cream maker.

I do need to find better ways of photographing them. I tried different angles and this side view makes the best profile, for now.

That said, no lemonade, cold brew, or chai is safe from the freezer… at least during the summer. Also, Peet’s now knows why I get that extra order of cold brew -- Mwahahahaha!