Vanilla Coffee Granita and Giveaway Reminder

I hope you all had a wonderful week, my friends. Did any of you tried my Grilled Ribeye Steaks with Vanilla Coffee Rub recipe?  Not yet?  I sure hope you’ll give that a try soon because the Vanilla Coffee Rub really embarks wonderful depth of flavors into your steaks and enhances the texture of your steaks by creating a lovely crust to seal in the juices.  The rub is super easy to put together with a rather short ingredients list.  Anyhow, don’t forget to enter the Singing Dog Vanilla Lover’s Set Giveaway (2 winners), if you haven’t done so.  The giveaway is available to my Readers worldwide, click here to enter.



Now, back to this Vanilla Coffee Granita.  As I promised you from the last post that I will share a dessert recipe using the Vanilla Coffee and Vanilla Salt.  This is one cool treat that could tame any flames and heats!  Boy, I don’t know what’s up with the weather here in the past 2 weeks, but it’s been super hot all week in L.A.  I can probably use a cool treat any time of the day.  This is a light and refreshing treat, a perfect sweet ending to any meal (more so if you made my Grilled Ribeye Steak recipe).  If you haven’t try a granita before, it’s a semi-frozen dessert made from sugar, water and various flavorings.  This time, I used vanilla coffee.  It’s ridiculously easy to prepare and let me show you how.



First, brew your coffee in your coffee maker, or French press.  While the coffee is still hot, add the sugar and salt. Stir until all the sugar is dissolved. Add the coffee liqueur and stir well. Pour the mixture into a freezer safe 9 x 13 container. Leave at room temperature until completely cooled.



Cover the container and freeze for an hour. Remove from freezer and with a fork, scrape the ice crystals that have formed on the side of the pan. Return to the freezer and scrape every 30 minutes.



Once the mixture is completely frozen (the whole process might take 2-4 hours), fluff with a fork and scoop the granita onto your favorite cup, dollop with some freshly whipped cream (recipe followed) and a sprinkle of vanilla salt on top.



The hardest part about this recipe?  Waiting!  Waiting for the granita to freeze up before you can take a bite! But it’s all worth it at the end.  It’s like having a sweet and creamy iced coffee in frozen form.  But the icy granita has a nice crunchy texture that is really refreshing on the palates. 



When you mix a little freshly whipped cream with the granita along with the crunch from the vanilla salt, that’s one perfect bite for me!  It’s definitely a party in my mouth that wakes up all my senses.  You would want to close your eyes and savor each spoonful slowly.  But then, you would also want to finish it quickly before it’s all melted.  These mini martini serving glasses are perfect for the job.  They are must-haves for parties and entertaining too.  (Please click here for product link).  I love the mini size because I won’t feel as guilty if I indulge more than one!  I hope you enjoy today’s recipe.  Have fun brewing, and freezing!  








Vanilla Coffee Granita: (Printable Recipe)
1/2 cup ground Singing Dog Vanilla coffee (if you prefer a stronger coffee taste, use 3/4 cup)
24 oz water
1/2 cup vanilla sugar (if you prefer a sweeter treat, use 3/4 cup of vanilla sugar)
pinch of Singing Dog Vanilla Salt, plus more for sprinkle
1 teaspoon coffee liqueur

Brew coffee with your coffee maker, or with a French press.  While the coffee is still hot, add the sugar and salt.  Stir until all the sugar is dissolved.  Add the coffee liqueur and stir well.  Pour the mixture into a freezer safe 9 x 13 container.  Leave at room temperature until completely cooled.  Cover the container and freeze for an hour.  Remove from freezer and with a fork, scrape the ice crystals that have formed on the side of the pan.

Return to the freezer and scrape every 30 minutes.  Once the mixture is completely frozen (the whole process might take 2-4 hours), fluff with a fork and scoop granita into your favorite cup, dollop with some freshly whipped cream (recipe followed) and a sprinkle of vanilla salt on top.
 
Fresh Whipped Cream:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped out the seeds (or use one teaspoon of vanilla extract)

In the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat whipping cream and powdered sugar together until medium peak forms.  Add the seeds from the vanilla bean (or vanilla extract) and beat until well combined.  The cream is ready when stiff peak forms (do not over beat or the cream will get separated).  Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.