Cranberry wine granita

cranberry-granita

Strangely enough, I guess you could consider cranberry an exotic fruit around here — the climate is way too warm to grow cranberry bushes. This means I made this granita out of cranberry juice, which is readily available.

I initially hoped this would turn out as a sorbet, but for whatever reason, it refused to fluff up in my ice cream maker — possibly because it contains no fat, egg whites or anything else that would give it body. I wound up with slush, which I stuck in the freezer and shook/stirred every few hours. It won’t get too solid, because there’s a decent amount of wine and sugar in there, and the final product is quite light and refreshing.

Since pure cranberry juice isn’t really available, I bought a 1-quart bottle of “cranberry cocktail” that was 27% juice, and lightly sweetened. The sweetness of your cranberry juice will affect how much sugar you want to add, so taste as you go.

4 c cranberry juice
1 c lemon juice (about 1.5 big lemons)
3/4 c rose wine
3/4 c sugar
zest of 2 lemons
1/4 t cloves

Mix all ingredients (set aside a bit of lemon zest, if you want to use it to decorate the servings), and put in a container in the freezer. Shake every few hours; once it gets too stiff to shake, stir every few hours, until it’s as frozen as you want it. Top with leftover lemon zest to serve (optional).

This entire batch contains 1084 calories, which will probably come out to less than 100 per serving, depending on your serving size.

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