Grape granita with grappa

Grape Granita with Grappa

3
Points®
Total Time
4 hr 6 min
Prep
5 min
Cook
1 min
Serves
8
Difficulty
Easy
Just 4 ingredients and a few minutes of your time are all you need to make this deeply refreshing dessert. We pair the pureed grapes with grappa - an Italian brandy made from the skins, seeds, and stems of grapes left over after winemaking (Italians are not ones to waste anything!). We like that it helps keep the dessert all about grapes. The alcohol in the grappa helps to keep the granita from freezing into a rock solid, instead making it pleasantly slushy. A high-powered blender will break down the grape skins so there aren’t any “flakes”; if your blender leaves pieces of skins, you can strain the mixture if you’d like, but it is not necessary.

Ingredients

Sugar

cup(s)

Red seedless grapes

4 cup(s), 1 1/2 lb, stems removed

80 proof liquor (gin, rum, scotch, tequila, vodka, or whiskey)

cup(s), grappa or brandy

Fresh lemon juice

3 Tbsp

Instructions

  1. In microwavable measuring cup or bowl, stir 1⁄3 cup water and sugar and microwave on High until warm, 30 to 45 seconds. Stir until sugar dissolves. (Alternatively, in small saucepan, stir 1⁄3 cup water and sugar over medium heat just until sugar dissolves.) In blender, add sugar syrup, grapes, grappa, and lemon juice and blend on high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Pour into 13-by-9-inch baking pan.
  2. Freeze granita until frozen along edges, about 1 hour. With fork, scrape ice along edges into center of pan. Return to freezer. Repeat stirring or scraping with fork every hour until frozen, 4 to 5 hours. Using fork, scrape granita into bowls.
  3. Serving size: about 3⁄4 cup