Homemade Berry Granita

Homemade berry granita is similar to a sorbet or an Italian ice and gives you the same happy feeling as eating ice cream but can be made with out all that hard work. Granita is made in three simple steps – purée, freeze and scrape. How simple is that? Most recipes for granita have you making a simple syrup by boiling the water and melting the sugar but I find that unnecessary. Instead, I substitute the sugar with Agave Nectar this way you add it right to the berries in the blender! Yeah!

Granita actually originated in Sicily and is a frozen treat made all over the world. In Quebec they call it a slushy or a slurry. This frozen treat can also be made into a after dinner dessert for adults by adding in a jigger or two of rum to give it a little kick. Another great idea is serving granita between meals as a palate cleanser to clear the taste buds for next course as an elegant presentation to your dinner party.

In my homemade granita recipe I have also simplified the freezing steps. Instead of scraping with a fork every 45 minutes just wait the three hours or so until the entire dish is frozen and then scrape with a fork at the end like we do in the show. This way it’s less time consuming and a smoother, easier surface to work with all awhile still coming out fluffy and delicious! I think you and your family and friends will really enjoy the simplicity of this delicious frozen treat.

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh strawberries
1 cup fresh raspberries
1 cup cold water
2 tbsp agave nectar or honey (Optional)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
Juice from 1 lime
1 bunch fresh peppermint leaves

Directions:

Wash and dry fruit
Squeeze juice from lemons and lime
Hull strawberries and slice in half
Place all berries into blender
Add citrus, H20 and agave
Blender for 20 seconds til pureed
Pour into a Pyrex dish
OPTIONAL: Add in 1-2 jiggers of rum, stir and freeze
OPTIONAL: You can give a stir before its frozen around the 45 minute mark BUT this is not a necessary step (as you see in the show we did not get around to this)
Freeze for approx. 3 hours
Pull out from freezer and begin to scrape with a fork until fluffy
Spoon into martini glasses and top with fresh mint

Chocolate-Avocado Mousse

You will be amazed how this fruit can be transformed into a creamy, chocolatey mousse! Yes, an avocado is actually a fruit from an avocado tree. I read through so many recipes that it took a bit to figure out which chef inspired me here but I finally got it done. Some recipes have you grinding chia seeds to thicken the mousse but the avocado is already thick and creamy so I find that step unnecessary. Others have honey or a man-made “all natural” sweetener added in but I think the agave nectar is the best option.

This recipe is from Giada De Laurentis’ team except I change it up by adding a little more chocolate and by using Perugina “milk“ chocolate bars (Italian) or Ghirdelli milk chocolate chips instead of the Ghiradelli semi sweet chips. This mousse is pretty rich so using the creamy milk chocolate bars lightens it up a bit and another reason being I wanted to get my two children to eat the mousse …they love the milk chocolate. Yes, that would be the kids who don’t eat anything green. I told you I would get them to eat something green sooner or later. I just left out the part that one of their favorite desserts, chocolate mousse, was made with avocado’s when serving it up to them…needless to say they LOVED it! They will thank me some day.

Make sure to watch my YouTube cooking show that goes with this recipe and don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE on my YouTube channel so that you can receive my latest cooking show releases!

Ingredients:

4 VERY RIPE-California avocado’s (SOFT not TOO MUSHY because they get brown inside)
7 oz. Perugina milk chocolate bars chopped up ( 2- 3.5 oz bars)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Hershey)
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/3 cup almond milk
2 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 Tsp fine salt
fresh raspberries and whipped cream for garnish-optional
Fresh mint

Directions:

Chop up all the avocado’s and put them into the food processor.
In a small bowl melt the chocolate chips or chopped up chocolate bar in the microwave for 30 seconds x3 stirring at each interval…..WATCH so as not to BURN the chocolate (everyone’s microwave is a little different).
Add the melted chocolate, and the next 5 ingredients to the food processor and purée for 30 seconds, stop to scrape the sides, then purée for 1-2 minutes, stop to scrape the sides and purée for 10-20 seconds more.
Scoop out the avocado mousse into your favorite glasses or bowls.
The mousse will be slightly warm from the food processor so put the glasses or bowls into the refrigerator for 2 hours to chill before serving.
Garnish with whipped cream and raspberries…Yum!

TIP: There is an easy way to get the pit out of a avocado which I have displayed in the pictures above. After running the knife around the flesh of the avocado against the edges of the inside pit… put the knife down and twist the avocado halves and pull apart. Then stick the knife into the pit and do the same thing holding on to the knife with one hand and carefully twist the avocado pit and it will pop right out. Then knock the pit off onto the board away from your hands. This can be a little tricky the first time so I would advise that this would be for an adult to try. Finally, Insert a large spoon and scoop the avocado along the edge of the avocado skin to remove avocado flesh.

TIP: VERY IMPORTANT….it is wise to remove this end stem off the avocado because it would taste extremely bitter if it were to accidentally get into the mousse.