Lemon Granita

With temperatures topping 100 degrees here, it's challenging to be in the kitchen baking with no air conditioning! So, I decided to make a cool refreshing dessert that didn't require turning on the oven.
This lemon granita is so easy to make, with only 3 ingredients, lemon, sugar and bottled water. The wait time is the longest and hardest part! But it's worth it! If you live in an area that sells Rita's Water Ice, then this is very close to their lemon water ice. It has a slight tartness from the lemons and it's not too sweet.
The best part is when it gets slightly melted and slushy at the bottom of the glass..so good!

I changed the recipe slightly. I zested 2 whole lemons, rather than removing the zest with peelers. Then I added the zest in the granita, however, I would suggest you don't do this. The zest actually winds up giving the granita a slightly bitter aftertaste. So in this case I say..do as the original recipe says, not as I did!

Begin by removing the zest in long pieces with a vegetable peeler.
Squeeze 1/2 cup of juice from the lemons.
See...I made lots of zest..don't do this! Peel the zest off, instead.

Place the water and sugar in a small heavy saucepan and heat, stirring, til the sugar is dissolved.

Stir in the peeled zest, then transfer to a bowl to cool.

Chill til cold, then discard peeled zest and stir in juice.

Pour into a metal pan and place in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Take out of the freezer and rake a fork over the mixture, especially along the sides.

Place back in the freezer for another 30 minutes.

After the last 30 minutes, rake the fork over the granita and break up any clumps.

Then it can go back in the freezer til you're ready to eat it.

Put it in a pretty glass...it tastes even better that way!

Lemon Granita ( from Epicurious)

2 to 3 large lemons

1 cup filtered or bottled still water ( not distilled)

1/3 cup superfine granulater sugar ( I didn't have this so I placed in the food processor a few pulses to get it superfine)

1. With a vegetable peeler, remove lemon zest in long pieces from 2 lemons.

2. Squeeze 1/2 cup juice from lemons.

3. In a small heavy saucepan, heat water and sugar, stirring until sugar is dissolved.

4. Stir in zest, then transfer to a bowl to cool.

5. Chill syrup, covered, until cold.

6. Discard zest, then stir in lemon juice.

7. Then pour into a metal pan and place in freezer for 30 minutes.

8. Take out and stir and rake fork across the mixture, especially along the sides. Refer to the photos above.

9. Place back in freezer for another 30 minutes, then repeat the stirring and raking, then place back in freezer til ready to eat.

10. Scoop up granita and place in a pretty glass and cool down!!