By Claire Kahn
Read about Claire Kahn in the Artful Table.

Caffè Granita con Panna Montata (frozen coffee with whipped cream) was my mother’s favorite dessert. In the sixties and seventies, she would get it at a sweets shop in Florence, Italy, called Perchè No?, which translated means Why Not? In their version, the sugar was only added to the cream; the frozen espresso had no sugar in it.

CAFFÈ GRANITA CON PANNA MONTATA

Course: Dessert
Servings: 4
Author: Claire Kahn

Ingredients

  • 4 cups espresso coffee brewed, double strength
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions

  • Add 2 tablespoons sugar to the brewed coffee (to taste). Pour the brewed coffee into a cake pan. Let cool and then put it into the freezer. Scrape the mixture with a fork every half hour, breaking up the icy chunks of coffee into crystals. Do this for 3–4 hours until coffee is completely frozen and crystallized. This step can be done the day before and kept in the freezer until served.
  • With a mixer, whip the cream and the remaining sugar (to taste) to stiff peaks. Serve in glasses, layering alternate scoops of frozen coffee crystals with dollops of cream.