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Cherry Granita w/ Mascarpone Cream | Refreshing Italian style shaved ice made w/ fresh cherries, & paired w/ a creamy mascarpone topping. Easy to make & no shaved ice machine is needed. #granita #shavedice #italianrecipe #cherry #lime #mascarpone #frozentreat #dessert #dessertrecipe #easyrecipe #summerrecipe | The Missing Lokness
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Cherry Granita with Mascarpone Cream

Course Dessert
Cuisine Italian
Keyword cherry, cherry granita, dessert, easy summer recipe, frozen treat, fruit dessert, granita, mascarpone whipped cream, no bake
Prep Time 50 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Inactive Time 5 hours
Total Time 5 hours 55 minutes
Servings 6 people
Author Lokness

Ingredients

  • 2 cups drinking water
  • ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2½ cups fresh dark sweet cherries (stems removed, rinsed, pat dried, pitted) (about 356 grams)
  • Zest of ½ lime
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (1 - 2 limes)

Mascarpone Cream (optional):

  • 4 ounces mascarpone cheese (slightly softened, but still a bit cold)
  • ¾ cup heavy cream (cold)
  • 3½ tablespoons powdered sugar
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  • In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water and sugar. Cook and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside to cool for about 45 minutes.
  • Place the cherries, lime zest, and lime juice in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Add half of the cooled sugar syrup. Taste and adjust with more sugar syrup. Make sure the mixture is slightly sweeter than you want, because it will be less sweet once it is frozen. Strained the liquid through a sieve into a medium bowl. Discard the bits of cherry skins.
  • Transfer the liquid to a flat-bottomed 9 x 13-inch metal, glass or ceramic dish. Keep in the freezer and chill for 30 minutes. Cover with a plastic wrap.
  • Remove dish from the freezer, lift back the plastic wrap, stir the mixture throughly with a fork, cover with plastic wrap and freeze again for 30 minutes. Continue to freeze for another 4 hours, scraping and breaking the mixture with a fork every 30 - 45 minutes. All the liquid should be frozen into tiny ice flakes.
  • For the mascarpone cream (optional), in an electric mixer fitter with a whisk attachment, add heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Whisk over high speed until soft peaks form. Add the mascarpone and whisk until combined, about 30 seconds.
  • To assemble, scoop granita into serving cups, top with a dollop of mascarpone cream if using. Serve immediately.

Notes

  1. How to remove cherry pits without a cherry pitter? Use a rounded pastry tip! Place a rounded pastry tip on a chopping board. Hold the cherry stem side down and over the pastry tip. Press down the cherry until the pit pop out on top. Remove the pit. It looks like this.
  2. For the syrup, I used about 1½ cups sugar syrup total. It depends on how sweet your cherries are. Taste and adjust to your liking. 
  3. Avoid using a nonstick pan. You don't want to scrape up any nonstick coating into your granita. 
  4. For storage, transfer the granita into an airtight container and keep in the freezer. Enjoy within a week. 
  5. Mascarpone cream can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge. It’s best to use on the same day, but can last for 2 days. It may deflate a bit, so you may need to whip them quickly before using.