Mojito Granita

Total Time: 50 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 limes
• 1 cup packed fresh mint leaves
• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
• 3 tablespoons rum

Recipe

• 1 add the water and sugar to a small saucepan; grate the zest from the 2 limes directly into the saucepan.
• 2 bring mixture to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved.
• 3 reserve 5 of the mint leaves; add the remaining mint to the saucepan, and remove from the heat.
• 4 cover and let stand for 8 minutes, then remove cover and let cool to room temperature.
• 5 once cool, strain the mixture into the container you plan to freeze the granita in, pressing firmly on the leaves to extract all the flavorful liquid.
• 6 discard mint leaves.
• 7 stir in the lime juice and rum; then finely chopped the reserved 5 mint leaves and add them as well.
• 8 place granita in the freezer; begin checking it after about 1 hour; once it begins to freeze around the edges, take a fork and stir the mixture, breaking up the frozen parts near the edges into smaller chunks and raking them toward the center.
• 9 return dish to freezer, then check mixture every 30 minutes afterward, stirring each time and breaking up any large chunks into small pieces with a fork, until you have beautiful, fine crystals.
• 10 serve in a chilled cocktail glass/martini glass.