I know, I know, it’s my third (third) coffee-related recipe in a row on the blog. And you thought you were here for rainbow cookies and red sauce.

I promise I’ll get back on the (literal) gravy train when the familiar gray clouds roll in to cover Seattle, like an old comfy sweater, for nine months. But right now, it’s deep summer, people.

Every good Seattleite knows that summer begins on the 5th of July. Well, as tradition would have it. It hasn’t necessarily been the case in recent years: insert nervous laughter and existential climate dread here 😬😬😬. Related: if you’re not in the Pacific Northwest, this summer has quite literally been hellfire and brimstone, so please forgive me for what I’m about to say…

So far, this summer, in Seattle, has been very much like the old-timey, perfect summers of my memory. 3 or 4 glorious full days of sunshine followed by a cloudy morning to bring the temp back down. Actually, today was one of those mornings when that “marine air” rolled in, and every Seattle person I saw was positively glowing. Oh what a relief from that oppressive sunshine! You dark hearts know who you are 🖤

Seattle summers mean a lot of things, but above all, Seattle summers are for lake jumps. The first time I jumped into Lake Washington this summer I realized that a physical experience can be a memory. That feeling of plunging into the cold, but not too cold, water was pure childhood. I grew up in this lake. It’s where I learned to swim, where I was a lifeguard, where I log-rolled my way to a championship. Yep, I said log-rolled. I could never be anything but the born-and-bred Seattle person I am. Lake Washington water running through my veins.

Here’s the thing about deep summer in Seattle, it’s broad daylight from 5am to 10pm. And tiny children see right through my vain attempts at an 8pm bedtime (“but it’s daaaaaaytime.” Touché kids, touché). So, in summer, we’re all a little sleep deprived. We need coffee. And it’s one of the three months of year when we can reasonably drink (or, eat, in this case) cold coffee.

I gave us an excuse to eat ice cream for breakfast in a previous post about brioche con gelato. But wait, there’s more! Sicilians also eat granita and whipped cream for breakfast. I’m telling you, these people know how to live.

So, this is the second best Sicilian breakfast; brioche con granita. You’re going to use the same brioche recipe you used with the gelato, but this time it’ll be partnered with icy cold, delicious, coffee granita and a raft of whipped cream. I promise you, this makes the whole, deep-summer, sun-and-children-are-up-way-too-early, situation a little easier to take!

Granita is easy to make, and a great activity to do with the tiny humans, because you can’t really mess it up. Simply dissolve sugar in hot coffee (ok, a grown-up should do that part), put it in the freezer, then take it out periodically and scrape with a fork to create ice crystals (this is the part kids love).

Ok, here’s a little science, because I can’t help myself: the coffee and sugar mixture never freezes solid because the sugar depresses the freezing temp. This means you don’t have to stress about the amount of time between stirrings. Just give the granita a good stir once, and then again the next time you take it out of the freezer. like I said, you can’t mess it up.

If you choose, you can add a little booze, which further depresses the freezing temp, creating a slightly different texture than sugar alone. In the pic above, you can actually see the difference in the ice crystal structure. The granita at the bottom of the frame has no booze, and the crystals are larger and more angular. The granita above (being stirred by my lovely assistant) has a little dose of Grand Marnier in it, creating softer, smaller crystals, with a wet-sand-ish type of consistency. Both are delicious. The choice is yours.

And while we’re on the topic of booze, I’ll tell you a little story about why I used Grand Marnier in this recipe.

Once upon a time I worked as a product developer for a large Seattle-based coffee company. We were working on cold-brew beverages. I made an initial prototype of a beverage that had cold brew, grapefruit, lime, and a liiiiiitle bit of Grand Marnier in it. It might sound weird, but it was delicious (and might have to be a blog recipe here at some point, but you know I’ve already hit the coffee content way too hard). Of course, we couldn’t actually serve booze at this particular coffee company, so I had to come up with an alternative. I had three different flavor companies working to make an orange cognac flavor I could substitute. I must have tried at least 50 flavors. But, you know what, it was never the same. I never found a good match for Grand Marnier, so that beverage never went any further than the product development lab. That’s the world of product development. So many incredible things never make it past the lab, for whatever reason. It’s kind of amazing new products launch at all, when you think of all the adjustments that are made from the initial concepts- something one could make with grocery store ingredients- and something that has to be mass produced across the country, or the world.

But, here, I used the Grand Marnier BECAUSE I COULD. And because it tastes good. One could also use a coffee liqueur, or, of course, no booze. You will be having this in the morning after all.

Another artistic choice I made here was to use Demerara sugar. It has a rounder, richer, slightly less sweet, flavor than white sugar. But, if you don’t have Demerara, white sugar will work just fine.

So here it is: Sicilian breakfast part two. Or, your excuse to eat granita and whipped cream for breakfast. You’re welcome.

Coffee Granita

Yield: 4 servings

Time: 15 minutes of active time plus at least 1.5 hours in the freezer.

2c (500mL) hot brewed coffee

1/2c (100g) Demerara sugar

pinch salt

2T (15mL) Grand Marnier (optional)

1. Combine hot coffee, sugar, salt and liqueur (if using).
2. Stir until sugar is fully dissolved.
3. Pour coffee mixture into a shallow, freezer-safe container (plastic or metal).
4. Allow coffee mixture to freeze for at least an hour (up to overnight).
5. Remove coffee mixture from freezer and stir with a fork. Raking thoroughly, from the edges of the container towards the center.
6. Allow the mixture to freeze at least another 30min, then remove it from the freezer and give it another good stir, to break up any large crystals.

Serve granita with brioche col tuppo, lightly sweetened whipped cream (recipe below) and a shower of fresh orange zest.

Lightly Sweetened Whipped Cream

Yield: 4 servings

Time: 5 minutes

1c (250mL) heavy whipping cream

1t sugar

1/2t vanilla extract

1. Place whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
2. Beat on medium speed until soft peaks form.

Alternatively: in a large bowl, whisk cream, sugar and vanilla by hand until soft peaks form.

Enjoy your perfect Seattle summer morning, made even more so by Breakfast Granita.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a lake to jump in.