Turn Your Unused Coffee Into An Italian Icy Treat

If you're a slow sipper and find yourself with a little extra coffee on your hands at the end of the day, save that leftover brew to make an energizing dessert. A granita is a chilled Italian treat with the texture of shaved ice. Usually, the Sicilian delicacy is made with fresh fruit, sugar and ice. A granita can even be made savory with the help of leftover salad ingredients. Anyone who's sipped on a creamy affogato knows that espresso plays well with frozen desserts. For a cool way to consume your caffeine, make use of a bit of espresso or a strong iced coffee, and make it the base for a frosty and flavorful granita.

Granitas are simple to put together without any complicated gadgets, so no stand mixer or expensive ice cream maker is necessary. Plus, given that iced coffee is satisfying year-round, there's no reason to save this cool treat for the summer months.

Don't trash that leftover dark roast. If you've still got coffee in your pot, there are a few ways to make the most of it. You can freeze coffee ice cubes to avoid diluted coffee drinks, and keep coffee grounds around to add depth and flavor to your usual morning granola. With a little leftover coffee, a bit of sugar, maybe a pinch of salt and some scraping, you can also make a coffee granita.

A bit like a snow ball or a snow cone from the local carnival, a granita is a frozen, flavored treat, flakier and fluffier than a sorbet. A liquid mixture is poured into a shallow dish and then placed in the freezer. The blend is scraped intermittently by hand, to create the shaggy frozen texture.

This also presents a great opportunity to channel your inner barista and experiment with flavored coffee syrups. To give your brew a boozy boost, you can even make a grownup granita with Baileys and Kahlua. Serve your coffee granita in a fancy chilled glass, finish with a hearty dollop of whipped cream and pretend you haven't had that coffee sitting in your kitchen since 9 a.m.