Espresso Granita With Cardamom Cream
5 hours, largely unattended. Serves 6.
You probably already have everything you need to make espresso granita — the only tools required are a freezer and a fork. Italians serve espresso granita with unsweetened whipped cream, spiked here with cardamom, which is an ideal counterpart to the strong sweetened coffee.
2 cups brewed espresso
1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon coffee liqueur
1 cup heavy cream
1⁄2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 Combine the hot coffee and sugar in a bowl, stirring until the sugar dissolves completely. Stir in the liqueur (if using). Pour the mixture into an 8-inch-square or equivalent size dish and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Freeze, using a fork to lightly scrape the surface to break up the frozen coffee into tiny crystals every hour, until the granita is fully scraped and a fluffy consistency, at least four hours total. (If you forget to scrape the granita and it freezes solid, don’t worry — it will still work. Just let it thaw very slightly, then use a fork to scrape and break it up into tiny crystals.) Cover the dish and freeze until ready to serve.
2 A few minutes before serving the granita, combine the cream and cardamom in a medium bowl. Whisk by hand until the cream holds very soft peaks. It’s better to under-whip than to overwhip here. As soon as the cream thickens and holds floppy peaks, stop whisking. 3 Layer a spoonful of espresso granita in the bottom of a pretty glass or small bowl. Top with a dollop of cardamom cream, followed by another spoonful of granita and more cardamom cream. Serve immediately.