Coffee Granita with Vanilla Whipped Cream

Despite the fact that school starts next week, I’m hanging on to these last days of summer. So, before I bring on the recipes involving pumpkin and spice, I wanted to share this yummy frozen treat.

I love fruit granitas, especially this Watermelon Granita from Georgia at The Comfort of Cooking. However, I’m a bit coffee obsessed. The coffee maker is the first place I head every morning and you’ll find me at Starbucks many afternoons for my late day pick me up. Now I have found a way to squeeze one more serving of java into my day. Dessert!

This recipe makes a good sized pan of granita, perfect for a large gathering or barbecue when you have lots of guests to serve. Otherwise, you can scale it in half for a smaller batch.

A short list for the grocery store – sugar, coffee, vanilla, and heavy whipping cream. You can use prepared whipped topping if you prefer and I’ll go into that a little bit more down below.

Pour 8 cups of hot, freshly brewed coffee into a large metal or other freezer proof pan. Metal works really well for granita because it gets really cold. That’s what we’re going for. I recommend using a rich, strong brew like Starbucks French Roast.

Add 1-1/4 cups sugar.

Stir it until the sugar has dissolved into the hot coffee. Here is where your personal preference comes in. Give it a taste and see if it is sweet enough for you. If not, add more sugar in 1/4 cup increments until you’re happy with it. Let the pan sit on your counter until the coffee has come to room temperature.

Now, place the pan in your freezer and forget about it for 45 minutes.

When the sides are beginning set up, give it a stir with a fork. Return to the freezer. You will continue this process about once every half hour for several hours.

You don’t need to be super precise about the timing of your fork scraping, just get in there now and then and scrape it up.

And, keep it going.

Eventually, you’re going to have granita! If you aren’t ready to serve it, just cover the pan with plastic wrap and keep it in the freezer. When you are ready to serve, you’ll need to let it sit out for a little bit and then scrape it down again to get the icy consistency back. It’s best served within a day or two.

A tip for making whipped cream from scratch. Use a metal bowl (for the same reason as above, burr…cold) and place it in the freezer for about 30 minutes or more before you’re ready to whip it. Pour the cream into the cold metal bowl, and using a hand mixer, whip it (whip it real good) with 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. We’re you really expecting me to avoid the Devo reference?

You can absolutely use prepared whipped topping, just mix a little vanilla in to warm up the flavor.

Layer the granita with a little whipped cream.

Another layer of granita and cream and you are ready to serve.

Coffee Granita with Vanilla Whipped Cream

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Author: Valerie Brunmeier

Keyword: coffee granita

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Prep Time:4 hours hours

Cook Time:0 minutes minutes

0 minutes minutes

Total Time:4 hours hours

Servings: 12 servings

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Ingredients

• 8 cups freshly brewed coffee
• 1-1/4 cups sugar, or to taste
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

• Pour hot, freshly brewed coffee into a large metal or freezer proof glass pan (13" x 9" or slightly larger) that will fit in your freezer. Add sugar to hot coffee and stir until sugar has dissolved. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature.
• Once mixture has cooled, carefully move pan to freezer. Check after about 45 minutes and when edges are just beginning to freeze, give it a stir with a fork and place it back in the freezer. Continue this process about once every half hour, scraping with the fork until mixture resembles shaved ice and no liquid remains at bottom of pan. This will take approximately 3 hours or more.
• Place a small metal mixing bowl in the freezer for about 30 minutes. In the chilled bowl, whip the heavy cream and vanilla with a hand mixer. Add 1 tablespoon sugar until soft peaks form.
• Layer granita alternately with layers of whipped cream into parfait or other serving glasses.
• Serve immediately.

Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.

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