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3-Ingredient Blood Orange Granita

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blood orange granita recipe
Photo: Nico Schinco/Styling: Erin McDowell

Somewhere between sorbet and Hawaiian shave ice, granita is a lot like a snow cone—an adult snow cone that’s chic and not limited to the summer months. The Fearless Baker author Erin McDowell crafted up a blood orange granita that hits all the right notes: seasonal, sophisticated and dead simple to make. (It’s only three ingredients, including water!)

“This is a really refreshing, really easy recipe,” McDowell tells us, “and you can make it two ways. You can just mix it together and freeze it solid, then use a fork to scrape it into tiny crystals. Or you can stir it periodically while it’s freezing to make larger crystals [as pictured]. Either way, it’s delicious and easy—one way just requires zero attention, and the other you have to think about a little bit.”

We prefer the stir-as-you-go method for its satisfying texture, but we make up for the added effort by using bottled blood orange juice, which you can find at most grocery stores. (Just make sure it’s 100 percent juice and not from concentrate.)

“This is a nice thing to serve at the end of a dinner party,” McDowell continues, “especially in the New Year as something lighter than a traditional dessert.”

It also happens to be really delicious with Champagne. Just saying.


Ingredients

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup water

3 cups blood orange juice (freshly squeezed or bottled, see intro)

Directions

1. In a small pot, combine the sugar with the water and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

2. Stir in the blood orange juice, then transfer the mixture to a medium shallow baking dish (like a cake pan or a casserole dish). Transfer to the freezer. For the easiest method, freeze it fully, undisturbed (you’ll scrape the mixture later to create small crystals), about 4 to 5 hours. For large crystals, stir the granita every 30 minutes to 1 hour as it freezes, about 2 hours total.

3. To serve, scrape the frozen granita with a fork, if frozen solid, then spoon the crystals into serving dishes. If you stirred it while freezing, just spoon it into serving dishes.

Nutrition Facts
  • 184 calories

  • 0g fat

  • 46g carbs

  • 1g protein

  • 44g sugars

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Note: The information shown is Edamam's estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice.

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erin jeanne mcdowell

Freelance Food Editor

Erin Jeanne McDowell is a recipe developer, food stylist and author of multiple cookbooks, including The Fearless Baker, which was named one of the Best Baking Books of 2017 by the New York Times. She studied baking and pastry at The Culinary Institute of America in New York, and in addition to developing recipes for PureWow, her work has appeared in Better Homes and Gardens, Food Network Magazine, Food52, The Kitchn and more.