This is a wonderful dessert as an end of a warm and romantic dinner!
I tweaked the recipe so much that I cannot rate it properly in its original version (that's why I'm only giving 4*). This is how I did it: doubled the recipe but used a little less than 4 pounds of watermelon, added a cup of pureed fresh strawberries and blueberries (because the melon I bought was pinkish white inside instead of dark red and not at all sweet), added only half of the amount of sugar and instead of champagne I used 7up. The granita took much more time to freeze than 2 hours. It tasted most of all of the berries, but the watermelony (or rather cucumbery) tones took over after a while. 5 days later, it is stone frozen (which I don't mind) and the sweet flavours are much more prominent. I think that if you used a really ripe and sweet watermelon, it would produce a similar taste... All in all, if I have a leftover watermelon again, I will make this granita again!
Read MoreI tweaked the recipe so much that I cannot rate it properly in its original version (that's why I'm only giving 4*). This is how I did it: doubled the recipe but used a little less than 4 pounds of watermelon, added a cup of pureed fresh strawberries and blueberries (because the melon I bought was pinkish white inside instead of dark red and not at all sweet), added only half of the amount of sugar and instead of champagne I used 7up. The granita took much more time to freeze than 2 hours. It tasted most of all of the berries, but the watermelony (or rather cucumbery) tones took over after a while. 5 days later, it is stone frozen (which I don't mind) and the sweet flavours are much more prominent. I think that if you used a really ripe and sweet watermelon, it would produce a similar taste... All in all, if I have a leftover watermelon again, I will make this granita again!
This is relatively easy to make, a great way to use up watermelon. The watermelon flavor really comes through. My only recommendation is to pour some fresh champagne over each serving to give it that bite and champagne taste. Overall, the champange is light and the sweet watermelon taste takes over the granita.
I tried this at a 4th of July bash at my house everyone oved it. I didn't tweak it at all except maybe adding more champagne... maybe that is why I had trouble getting it to freeze. Took almost 6 hours.
This is quite good. I was making it for kids, so, I used sprite instead of champagne. The kids loved it. I cut back on the sugar significantly because the watermelon I had was incredibly sweet already. I would make this again, with champagne next time for an adult crowd. This recipe made more than 4 servings, but, is an excellent way to use up extra watermelon. It took closer to 4 hours for it to freeze properly.
It was perfect! Will definitely make and serve this refreshing dish again!!! Thank you!
This works better if you lightly freeze the sugar/watermelon mixture first. Then blend the champagne into it slowly (plus you can get a lot more champagne into the drink without worrying that it won’t really freeze). But either way it’s delicious! I’ve made it on several occasions and it’s always a hit!
