06 Jun Coffee Granita
This light and chilly dessert is a great finish for any meal that has a hearty main course, and this is a particularly great ending to a Father’s Day meal full of the kind of bold flavors that Dads love. We love the rich flavor of coffee served up in an unusual cold form, and prefer to accent this dessert with White Chocolate Cinnamon Crusted Tuile Cookies, which provide a nice textural contrast.
4 servings
Ingredients
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons coffee flavored liqueur
1 teaspoon orange or lemon zest
2 cups hot espresso or very strong black coffee
Equipment
9×13 inch metal pan or glass baking dish
Preparation
Mix the sugar, coffee liqueur and zest in a 9×13 inch metal pan and add the hot coffee. Stir well to dissolve the sugar. Use a large enough pan to spread the mixture out in a very shallow layer. Allow to cool for a few minutes, and put the pan in the freezer on a level shelf. Freeze for 1 hour.
Take the coffee mixture out of the freezer and use a fork to scrape up the ice crystals and break up any frozen chunks. Return to the freezer and repeat this process every 30 minutes for about 3 hours until the mixture has completely frozen, and each scraping yields more tiny ice crystals. The granita should be light and flaky.
Service
Scrape the granita crystals a final time and mound lightly into glasses or dessert goblets. Garnish with White Chocolate Cinnamon Crusted Tuile Cookies and serve.
Recipe by Mark Tafoya