Our final frozen cocktail recipe happens to be one of our most recent favorites! Nole has been making delicious frozen granitas out of fresh fruit for years at home, so I don’t know why it took so long for us to add booze to one. But I’m glad we did. It’s the perfect way to use abundant in-season fruit – in this case, blackberries! – Andrew
Blackberry St-Germain Granita
4 Cups Blackberries
1 Cup St-Germain
1/3 Cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
A pinch of kosher salt
Purée the blackberries, St-Germain, sugar, lemon juice, and salt with a cup of water in a blender until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a 9 x 13″ metal baking pan, pressing on the solids to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Freeze the mixture until the edges begin to set, then use a fork to scrape, breaking up the frozen sections into light flakes. Freeze, scraping and breaking up mixture every 20–30 minutes, until it resembles fluffy shaved ice, about 2–4 hours. Serve with a spoon.
Illustration by Dinara Mirtalipova for Oh So Beautiful Paper
We made this recipe both with and without St-Germain, and we both agree: with St-Germain is better. The succulent fruitiness of the blackberries is a perfect match for St-Germain’s robust floral notes, and the St-Germain adds just enough alcohol to give the granita some oomph without overwhelming it as a dessert. St-Germain, as a liqueur, also has a much lower proof than a liquor, which is perfect for a dessert like this – alcohol freezes at a much lower temperature than water, so too much alcohol in the recipe will keep the drink from freezing properly. Not this recipe: it came out just fine, fluffy and crunchy and delicious.
Calligraphy by Lauren Saylor of A Fabulous Fete
Styling by Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper
Photos by Sweet Root Village for Oh So Beautiful Paper
It looks like a cup of red velvet cake! It sounds absolutely delicious and great for a summer party.