Brown Sugar Coffee Granita with a Vanilla Cinnamon Cream
The perfect summertime dessert, granita and cream. This dessert is inspired by the Starbucks ‘Brown Sugar Shaken Espresso’ drink. Not sponsored, just a fan of that frothy little number.
Granita is so easy to make, it’s fool-proof. It’s an Italian shaved ice dessert that you make with simply a fork in a freezer-safe container by scraping the ice every now and then to break up any big ice formations. The result is a crumbled ice dessert, amazing served with a cream for a balance of textures.
Another amazing way to serve this granita would be on top of an iced coffee. The granita would slowly melt into the drink, keeping it cold and it wouldn’t water it down either, because it’s just coffee melting into coffee. I do this with my bloody marys, except I make a bloody mary granita to serve on top of my bloody mary cocktail. It’s a crowd pleasure, for sure! Everyone loves these, it’s an easy way to level up a bloody mary, or in this case, an iced coffee.
When I went back to the US to visit my friends and family, I had it a couple of times and I loved it. The drink at Starbucks is made by shaking brown sugar with espresso and ice. It gets super frothy, to which is then met with oat milk and cinnamon. It’s definitely a treat, after living in Australia for 5+ years I’m not used to such sweet coffee drinks but I love it every now and then.
The two components of this dessert, being granita and cream, work in a yin yang method. The coffee granita meets brown sugar and is the sweet component of the dish. However, the cream only sees cinnamon and vanilla extract, so no sugar is added. When eaten together, the sweetness is perfectly balanced. If you were to just eat the granita and not have any cream, it would be too sweet. With that being said, please keep that in mind if you aren’t moving ahead with the making of the cream. If you are enjoying the granita on it’s own, I would suggest cutting the brown sugar quantity by 50%, being 50g. Taste the coffee with the sugar once it’s dissolved and see if you like the sweetness of it. You can always add more, but you cannot take away. I would highly suggest making the cream though, it’s super easy and if you are dairy free, search the shops for an alternative version or make one by adding a thickener to your non-dairy cream.
To whisk or not to whisk? Personally, I don’t have a stand mixer, so for me it’s whisking. This would be easier and faster in a stand mixer. If you don’t have one, no worries. I did it by hand and it took me less than 5 minutes. Put a cloth down under the bowl to keep it still while whisking. Whisk with all your might for those few minutes, it’ll be worth it!
Ingredients:
Brown sugar coffee granita:
450 ml brewed coffee, I used simple drip coffee
100g brown sugar
pinch of salt
Vanilla cinnamon cream:
300 ml thickened cream or heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground
Garnish: cinnamon for dusting
Method:
To make the coffee granita: In a small pot over low heat, bring together coffee, brown sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir to dissolve the salt, just lightly simmering until the sugar crystals dissolve into the coffee. Allow to cool completely then pour into a freezer-safe container. If you’re planning on finishing the entire granita in one serving, you don’t need a lid. If you plan to keep some for more than one use, use a container with a lid. Pop the container with the coffee into the freezer, with no lid. Set a timer for 1 hour.
Once the timer goes off, remove from the freezer and using a fork, scrape the ice crystals around so to prevent it from forming a giant ice cube. Put it back in the freezer and set another 1 hour timer.
Do the same every 1 hour over the course of 8 hours, scraping and mixing the ice around gently so as to disrupt any large formations. It’s done once the ice is flakey and the texture of shaved ice. Once it’s done, you don’t have to keep scraping and mixing it. Just put a lid on the container and keep in the freezer until ready to serve.
To make the vanilla cinnamon cream: Empty a container of thickened cream, or heavy whipping cream, into a medium mixing bowl along with cinnamon and vanilla. Whisk for a few minutes until stiff peaks form. Once they do form, careful not to over mix. Set in the fridge until ready to serve.
To serve: using a small, clear glass, fill with brown sugar coffee granita and top with a tbsp of cream. Dust with cinnamon and enjoy straight away.
