Watermelon Granita and Rosé Slushie

This super simple, frozen watermelon and rosé slushie is all you need this summer. Fresh watermelon and basil granita is topped with dry rosé wine to make a fruity and refreshing cocktail.

The other day, I got home from yoga to an “excessive heat warning” in our area. Coming from Florida, I’ve never been pre-warned about excessive heat, but boy it was sweltering. I opened our balcony door only to be greeted by a wave of hot, humid air that I am pretty sure came straight from the Amazon rainforest. It was toasty. And it made me want something bright and refreshing, like this cute little watermelon granita and rosé slushie.

Now, I’m not usually a slushie girl. I have never been a fan of that blended ice texture (frappucinos have never been my cup of tea…or coffee), but granita is a whole different story. Granita is an ice-y Sicilian dessert, made of simply sugar, water, and fruit. It’s fluffier in texture than a sno-cone, but a little icier than Italian ice and it is perfect for slushie-ing.

how to make homemade granita

Granita is pretty simple and can be made with basically any fruit. I really like using watermelon since I’m always trying to find ways to use it up before it goes bad.

First, we make a simple syrup. Equal parts sugar and water are simmered together with a handful of fresh basil because it’s summertime, baby! Once the sugar is dissolved, remove the syrup from the heat and let it cool completely before straining out the basil leaves. Then place a bunch of cubed watermelon into a high-speed blender, along with the basil syrup, and some salt. Blend it until it’s super smooth and pour it into a flat baking dish. The granita goes into the freezer for a total of 3-4 hours. Every 30 minutes, take the granita out and use a fork to scrape and fluff the granita, making sure to get all of the sides and edges. This process prevents large ice crystals from forming, giving a softer texture. Repeat this until the granita is completely frozen, then scoop it into glasses and top with enough rosé to reach that perfect slushie consistency.

other ways to use granita

This recipe, like most granita recipes, makes quite a large amount. Granita is frozen, so it will hold a long time in the freezer and keep your fruit from going bad and it can be used a variety of applications outside of slushies. Here are a few ideas!

• Use it for fancy plated desserts: One of my very favorite plated desserts consisted of a little olive oil cake, a creamy anglaise sauce, granita, and a bunch of fresh fruit. You can elevate pretty much any dessert with a forkful of granita.

• Serve it with ice cream: You can do a little ice cream/Italian ice-style layering situation with vanilla ice cream and fruit granita. Creamy and delicious!

• Eat it by itself: In Sicily, granita is often served as palate cleanser between courses, or even eaten for breakfast. I could possibly get behind the idea of starting my day with dessert and cappuccino.

Yield: makes one 9x13 baking dish of granita, about 1 quart

Author: Anna Ramiz

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Watermelon Granita and Rosé Slushie

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 5 MinInactive time: 4 HourTotal time: 4 H & 20 M

This super simple, frozen watermelon and rosé slushie is all you need this summer. Fresh watermelon and basil granita is topped with dry rosé wine to make a fruity and refreshing cocktail.

Ingredients

• 100 g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
• 100 g water
• 1/2 cup basil leaves
• 9 cups watermelon, cubed
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• dry rosé wine

Instructions

1. In a small saucepan, combine sugar, water, and basil leaves. Bring to a boil, and simmer for about 5 minutes, until fragrant and sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool completely before straining out the basil leaves.
2. Place watermelon, basil syrup, and salt in a high speed blender. Blend until smooth. Pour the watermelon juice into a 9x13 sized baking dish and place in the freezer.
3. Use a fork to scrape and break up the granita as it freezes every 30 minutes or so over the course of 3-4 hours. Granita is ready when it is completely frozen, flaky and fluffy in texture.
4. To make the slushees, fill a glass with watermelon granita. Pour chilled rosé over the granita and enjoy!

Notes:

If you want to leave the basil out of this, you can use the same ratios to make a plain simple syrup instead. You can also substitute another herb if that floats your boat.

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Olive Oil Granola Fruit Crisp

A very easy, accidentally vegan summer fruit crisp recipe. Bright summer berries are topped with crunchy olive oil granola and then baked until bubbly.

summer berries and an olive oil granola fruit crisp

I have three criteria for summer desserts. 1) FRUIT! Give me all the berries, cherries, and stone fruit that the season has to offer. 2) Simple is better- I want easy, toss together, pantry recipes that can be made quickly, adapted easily, and shared with a crowd. 3) Topped with ice cream. All good summer desserts should be able to be topped with a big scoop of ice cream.

Lucky for us, today’s new recipe meets all of our stringent summer dessert criteria. This olive oil granola fruit crisp, is ridiculously easy to mix together, is accidentally vegan and can very easily be made gluten-free. The crumble topping is so versatile and you can use it with any of your favorite fruits, and fruit crisps and vanilla ice cream go together like PB&J.

what is a fruit crisp

When it comes to a baked fruit dessert (ie. cobblers, crisps, crumbles), it’s all about the topping. According to my personal dictionary of dessert words, the definitions for each are as follows: cobbler- fruit topped with a biscuit or cake like topping (this would include a liquid ingredient, like buttermilk or heavy cream, in the recipe), crumble- fruit topped with a thick, streusel like topping (when developing recipes, if I include cold butter, I generally consider it a crumble), and crisp- a lighter streusel topping, generally with oats and some sort of nut.

Again, these are my personal working definitions and opinions may vary (we haven’t even included buckles and clafoutis!). Ultimately, a fruit crisp consists of fresh summer fruit topped with a lighter, crunchy layer, making it 100% okay to eat this for breakfast.

how to make an olive oil granola fruit crisp

You guys know how I feel about olive oil in baking. I was actually thinking about it the other day and I think that olive oil might be my number 1 favorite baking ingredient. It’s ridiculously versatile and I just love the tiny, savory quality it gives to sweet recipes. It’s the simplest way I know to elevate a recipe.

For the crisp topping, olive oil and maple syrup (you could use honey) are whisked together and then poured over a bowl of granola-esque goodies—oats, walnuts, coconut, brown sugar. There is a touch of flour in this recipe, which helps to bind everything together, but you could easily substitute buckwheat flour or a cup-for-cup gluten free flour. Everything is tossed together until just moistened and then spooned over some macerated berries. It’s baked until crispy and golden and bubbly, then topped with vanilla ice cream, a glug of olive oil, and a pinch of flaky salt.

You can very easily use another fruit, like peaches or cherries or nectarines. I recommend eating this outside for maximum summer vibes.

Yield: makes one 9" pie dish

Author: Anna Ramiz

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Olive Oil Granola Fruit Crisp

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 45 MinTotal time: 1 Hour

A very easy, accidentally vegan summer fruit crisp recipe. Bright summer berries are topped with crunchy olive oil granola and then baked until bubbly.

Ingredients

for the berry filling

• 1 lb fresh strawberries, quartered
• 6 oz fresh raspberries
• 6 oz fresh blueberries
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• Juice of 1/2 of a lemon

for the olive oil granola topping

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 6 tbsp high-quality, fruity olive oil
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together granulated sugar and cornstarch to break up any clumps.
3. Place fruit in a large bowl and toss with sugar and cornstarch mixture. Add lemon juice and toss to coat. Let macerate while you prepare the topping.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, walnuts, and coconut. In a smaller bowl, whisk together olive oil and maple syrup until combined. Add the olive oil and maple syrup to the dry ingredients and use a rubber spatula to stir well, until everything is moistened.
5. Pour fruit into a deep 9” round baking dish. Place crumble topping in an even layer on top of the fruit and bake for 40-45 minutes, until fruit is bubbly and topping is deeply golden brown. Let cool for 15-20 minutes, and then serve warm with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of olive oil.

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Bourbon Peach and Pretzel Ice Cream with Caramel

No-churn homemade vanilla bean ice cream that can be made with or without an ice cream maker. Rich and creamy ice cream base is swirled with bourbon peach compote, homemade salted caramel, salty pretzels.

Um hello summer! There is no better way to celebrate long sunny days than with fistfuls of ice cream so here we are again with another new NO CHURN ice cream recipe for you! I love making ice cream, it’s a fondness I developed working in pastry kitchens where almost any plated dessert can be elevated with a cool, creamy component. I love that ice cream is so versatile. A simple anglaise base can be steeped with literally any flavor your heart desires (I’m serious, there is an ice cream shop on our block with mushroom ice cream on the menu) and you can mix in whatever you like. Always in the words of our culinary queen Ina Garten, how easy is that?

Today’s ice cream screams summer—it’s filled with a bourbon peach compote, swirled with homemade salted caramel, and studded with salty, crunchy, pretzels for the most July vibe around. So let’s jump in!

how to make homemade salted caramel

Once you get over the slight anxiety that cooking sugar can produce, caramel is actually pretty simple and it’s something that can always find a home in your refrigerator. For this recipe, we’re making a wet caramel, which means a bit of water is added along with the sugar. This makes it a little more difficult to burn and crystallize. We are also adding lemon juice, which in the pastry world is called a ‘doctor’ and it too gets in the way of sugar crystallization. Sugar, water, and lemon juice are simmered WITHOUT STIRRING until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture starts to turn a bit golden. At this point, you are allowed to gently slosh the pan around to ensure even cooking. We’re going to continue to cook the caramel until it’s a deep amber color, remove it from the heat and whisk in some heavy cream. Cook it for one more minute and then add the butter and a pinch of salt. Let it cool completely and then drizzle it over everything or just eat it by the spoonful.

how to make bourbon peach compote

Compotes are a fun, easy way to use up fruit that has started to lose its glamour. Slightly softened peaches, strawberries a little past their prime, plums with a couple of bruises—they can all benefit from the compote treatment. A compote is simply fruit cooked in a syrup, and it is different from a jam in that the fruit usually stays in whole or larger pieces. For this recipe, I wanted a very peach-forward ice cream situation so I sliced my peaches in wedges. Martin told me that this was too peachy for him and he would have preferred his peaches cut into smaller cubes, so please feel free to cut your peaches any way you would like. Whatever your peach sizing preference, pop them in a pot with a little brown sugar, lemon juice, and salt and cook them down low and slow for about 40 minutes until they are all slouchy and syrupy and soft. Toss in some bourbon and call it a day. Cool them and store them in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to a week.

P.S. This will make more compote than you need for the ice cream so you can spoon the rest over waffles or pancakes or top your ice cream with even more compote…no one is judging you around here.

making ice cream without an ice cream maker (or with because you can do both)

I’ve already written quite a bit on making ice cream without an ice cream maker and this blog post is getting a little long and clunky, so I’ll keep it short and sweet today. (If you’d like to real a whole long spiel, check out all of my other ice cream recipes here.)

To make homemade ice cream, we start with a creme anglaise base. This is simply a cooked custard thickened with egg yolks that we flavor and chill. Once the anglaise is very cold, we are able to whip it until its thick and fluffy and has medium peaks. All of our goodies are either folded in or layered on top and it takes an overnight freeze in a loaf pan or baking dish. That’s it!

*If you’d like to make this with an ice cream maker, simply make the anglaise base and then follow the instructions for churning on your ice cream maker.

bourbon peach compote

peach swirled ice cream

no-churn ice cream

Yield: one quart of ice cream

Author: Anna Ramiz

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Bourbon Peach and Pretzel Ice Cream with Caramel

Prep time: 45 MinCook time: 30 MinInactive time: 14 HourTotal time: 15 H & 15 M

No-church homemade vanilla bean ice cream that can be made with or without an ice cream maker. Rich and creamy ice cream base is swirled with bourbon peach compote, homemade salted caramel, salty pretzels.

Ingredients

for the caramel

• 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• Pinch of salt

for the bourbon peach compote

• 2 lbs fresh peaches
• 2/3 cup (142 g) brown sugar
• Juice of one lemon
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp bourbon

for the ice cream

• 2 cup (460 g) heavy cream
• 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tsp vanilla bean powder or 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup pretzels, crumbled
• 3/4 cup-1 cup bourbon peach compote, recipe included
• 1/4 cup caramel, recipe included

Instructions

to make the caramel

1. Combine the sugar, water, and lemon juice in a small sauce pan. Gently jostle the saucepan so that all of the sugar is moistened, but do not stir.
2. Place saucepan over medium-high heat and cook, without stirring, until the sugar is dissolved and the caramel begins to turn golden in color. Swirl the saucepan gently, and then continue to cook until caramel is a deep amber color.
3. Remove from heat and gradually stream in heavy cream, whisking continually. When all of the cream has been added, return caramel to heat and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute more.
4. Remove caramel from heat again and stir in butter and salt. Let cool completely.

to make the bourbon peach compote

1. Thinly slice peaches* and place in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Add brown sugar, lemon juice, and salt. Stir to combine.
2. Bring to a boil over medium heat, and then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, until peaches are broken down and syrup has thickened. Stir in bourbon and let cool completely.
3. *If you’d prefer to dice peaches instead of slicing, that works too! It’s personal preference when it comes to size.*

to make the ice cream base

1. Place heavy cream in a medium saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until cream is beginning to bubble around the edges of the pan and is hot to the touch.
2. While the cream is heating, whisk together salt, vanilla powder, egg yolks, and sugar in a large bowl. When the cream is hot, slowly stream it into the egg mixture, whisking continually the whole time. Transfer the entire mixture back into the saucepan and return to heat.
3. Cook, stirring continually with a wooden spoon, over low-medium heat until anglaise sauce is thickened, but do not bring to a boil. You can test if the sauce is ready by wiping your finger through the sauce along the back of the wooden spoon. If the line your finger creates holds, the sauce is ready. If it drips, continue cooking.
4. When the sauce is sufficiently thickened, strain into a large mixing bowl, cover, and refrigerate.
5. Whipping and chilling: When the anglaise sauce is cold, transfer to a mixer and begin whipping. Whip until soft peaks form and then return to the refrigerator.

to assemble the ice cream

1. Place the whipped cream anglaise in a large bowl. Gently fold in 1/2 cup of the bourbon peach compote and 1/2 cup of crushed pretzels.
2. Pour half of the mixture into a 9x5” loaf pan. Smooth the top into an even layer. Drizzle half of the caramel on top and swirl with a knife or a skewer. Dollop a few tablespoons more of the peach compote on top and another handful of crushed pretzels.
3. Pour the rest of the ice cream into the pan and repeat with the remaining caramel, peach compote and pretzels.
4. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ice cream and then wrap the pan tightly in plastic wrap. Freeze overnight (or for 8-12 hours).

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