In the heat of the summer, we all want a delicious frozen treat. More importantly, we want to spend as little time as possible in the kitchen. The answer? A quick and simple granita. This icy dessert is low effort, tasty, and doubles as a handy cocktail ingredient.
Granita comes from “granire” – to granulate. It’s an easy Italian dessert that comes from “granulating” a lightly sweetened liquid over a few hours in the freezer. No churning, no special equipment, just a shallow container and a fork.
We’ve used our lucky lemongrass tea for this sweet and sharp frozen treat. Give it a try, and don’t forget to tag us with the results!
Lazy Lemon Granita
Serves 4
- 500ml water
- 40g Lucky Lemongrass Tea
- 80g Sugar (caster or granulated is fine)
- 30g Honey*
- 1 Lemon (zest and juice)
*To keep it vegan, sub the honey for vegan-friendly syrup of your choice, or for another 20g of sugar.
Method:
- Combine all of the ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Strain the mixture into a heatproof jug, and leave to cool.
- When the strained mixture is room temperature, pour into a shallow freezer-proof container and place in the freezer.
- Every 45 minutes or so, remove mixture from the freezer and break up with a fork until fully frozen (around 4 hours).
The Lazy version:
If you forget to scrape the mixture often enough and find yourself with large ice crystals, just put it in a food processor and blitz for a minute before serving.
The Grown-up version:
Add a generous scoop of the granita to a tall glass, and a shot of gin and top up with soda water for a refreshing summer cocktail.