This cherry granita with mint is a refreshing summer dessert that you can make ahead of time and enjoy outdoors or at your next gathering. This granita recipe uses cherries but you could easily substitute strawberries, lemon, or any other fruit you like.
If you are not familiar with Italian granitas, they are basically a light frozen fruit dessert that is made by scraping frozen sweetened fruit puree. By scraping the fruit puree, it creates smaller and smaller ice crystals that form and the final result is a light and fluffy iced dessert.
Now I like keeping things very simple when I cook and this cherry granita recipe is simple in that it is a few minutes of work preparing the ingredients before it goes into the blender and then into the freezer. The only not simple part is that you need to scrape the mixture in the freezer every 30 minutes or so for the first 4 hours.
I absolutely love making these cherry granitas for a simple Summer dessert to serve after grilling up my hamburger patties, Dijon steak skewers, or grilled tuna steaks.
It is always loved and such a refreshing ending to any meal.
Ingredients
- Fresh or frozen and thawed cherries
- Fresh mint
- Sugar
- Water
- Limes
When making this recipe with the cherries, the easiest way to do this is to buy frozen cherries with the pits removed and then thaw them out. If you do want to work with fresh cherries, just make sure you remove the pits.
How To Make Cherry Granita
The steps for the making of this cherry granita recipe are simple.
- Blend: It starts off by blending the ingredients in a blender until you have a thick cherry puree.
- Scrape: Pour the puree into a pan and freeze. Once it starts to freeze, you scrape it with a fork and continue this every so often. With each scrape with a fork that you do, you make new little fruit crystals.
- When it looks completely dry and fluffy, you know the granita is ready.
If you are making this ahead of time like I like to do, when the granita is done just cover it in plastic wrap in your freezer overnight.
When you are ready to serve it, just fluff it up again with a fork and scoop it into individual containers.
Serving
I love serving the cherry granita in individual baking cups that you would use for making cupcakes (not the cupcake liners but the sturdier cups). You could also use ramekins or small glasses as well. Use what you have on hand.
If you have not tried making granita, I highly recommend it. It is refreshing, great for serving a group of people (when you make it ahead of time), and the perfect light dessert on those hot days.
Once you try this version, you can experiment with many other flavors depending on your mood.
More like this
If you love this cherry granita recipe, you may also like these:
Easy Cherry Granita With Mint
Ingredients
- 4 cups pitted cherries fresh or frozen
- ¼ cup fresh squeezed lime juice
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup water
- 5 fresh mint leaves
Instructions
- In a high powdered blender, add all of your ingredients.4 cups pitted cherries, ¼ cup fresh squeezed lime juice, ⅓ cup granulated sugar, ¾ cup water, 5 fresh mint leaves
- Blend until smooth about 1 minutes.
- Pour your ingredients into a large 9x11 baking dish making sure the liquid does not go higher than ¼ inch inside the pan.
- Place in the freezer flat and freeze for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, with a fork, scrape the granita making sure to get the sides well.
- Repeat this step every 30 minutes for 4 hours.
- It is ready when the granita looks dry and fluffy.
- Cover with plastic wrap in the freezer until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Values are estimates only.
See full nutrition disclaimer hereTried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!
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