Coffee granita is one of Sicily's great summer desserts: strong sweetened coffee frozen into light, icy flakes and usually topped with cream. It is easy to make at home, the only work being a fork-scrape every half hour to keep the crystals loose.
Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for the Coffee Granita recipe. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/recipes/coffee/coffee-granita/
Brew the coffee strong, sweeten it, add a pinch of salt to sharpen it, then freeze and scrape. Serves four.
You'll need
- 30g Costa Medium Roast No.3 Ground Coffee (about 4 heaped tablespoons)
- 500ml freshly drawn water, brought to a rolling boil then left for 45 seconds to drop to about 92C
- 3 tablespoons of golden caster sugar
- A small pinch of fine sea salt
- 1 600ml glass cafetiere French press
- 1 shallow freezer-safe metal tray (about 24cm x 18cm)
- 1 long-tined fork for scraping
- To serve: 4 chilled coupes, 200ml double cream whipped to soft peaks, 12 whole roasted coffee beans (3 per coupe) gently crushed
Method
- Brew the 30g of Costa Medium Roast No.3 Ground Coffee in the cafetiere with the 500ml of 92C water for four minutes following the standard cafetiere method. Press the plunger down slowly after four minutes and pour the brewed coffee into a small mixing bowl.
- Whisk the 3 tablespoons of golden caster sugar and the small pinch of fine sea salt into the warm brewed coffee until the sugar has fully dissolved.
- Cool the sweetened coffee to lukewarm on the worktop for fifteen minutes.
- Pour the lukewarm sweetened coffee into the shallow freezer-safe metal tray. The thinner liquid layer freezes more evenly than a tall jug.
- Place the tray flat in the freezer. Set a timer for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, drag the long-tined fork across the surface in straight lines to break up the freezing rim into dark brown flakes, then return the tray to the freezer.
- Repeat the 30-minute fork-scrape five more times over the next three hours. Each scrape lifts the freezing edges into the centre.
- After three hours the granita should be a fluffy mound of dark brown ice flakes. Spoon into the four chilled coupes.
- Whip the 200ml of double cream to soft peaks. Drop a small dollop on top of each coupe.
- Scatter 3 gently crushed roasted coffee beans across each rim. Serve at once with a long dessert spoon.
- Stir the pinch of salt into the hot coffee, it sharpens the flavour and stops the granita tasting flat once frozen.
Want the background, not just the brew?
Brewed with: Costa Medium Roast No.3 Ground Coffee, 200g
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