Pumpkin and Spice

 It’s been a while, friends! I’ve been a little overwhelmed lately, as I’m sure you can sympathize. On top of my recent family stresses, work has been slammin’ (two of my co-workers were/are out for medical reasons), and I’ve been job hunting. I suppose you could say I’m lucky, because on my (rare) days off, I’ve had job interviews, second interviews and (squee!) orientations! That’s right, mes amies- I have a new job! I’m so very excited- I’ll be working as a pastry cook at a luxury hotel in Orlando. It’s exactly what I want to be doing; I feel like I’ve landed a dream job. It’s a gorgeous hotel, and absolutely everything they do is made from scratch, with a strong emphasis on local and seasonal ingredients.

So, to celebrate my new job, and to celebrate summer’s pending arrival (well, here in Florida it’s not pending, it’s been here for about… four or five weeks) I thought we could share a cocktail! Whip up a batch for your Memorial Day cookout, and I promise you’ll become a legend!

Just prior to my trip to Kansas, I received a fantastic gift from Ryan over at POM Wonderful- several bottles of beautiful POM Wonderful pomegranate juices! They were so lovely, sparkling and red in its bottles, I wanted to save them for something really special. When I came up with the idea for these pomegranate granite-ritas, I knew this would be a perfect showcase for the tangy sweet pomegranate juice.

A granita is an Italian dessert, and super-simple to make. A liquid (usually coffee or juice) is sweetened and frozen, stirring periodically during the freezing process to encourage small ice crystals. Once the dessert is totally frozen, it’s scraped with a fork to make a fluffy slush, and then served. Granitas are great for summer- they’re refreshing and icy cold, plus they are so easy and low stress to make.

I decided to combine a refreshing pomegranate granita and one of my other favorite summer treats- the frozen margarita. It turned out to be a great combo, since the tequila I added to the granita mixture kept it from freezing completely solid, resulting in a lovely, thick slush.

Since the pomegranate juice is so healthy- packed with antioxidants and vitamin C, I decided to keep my granita-rita fresh, healthy and natural. I combined my POM Wonderful juice with stevia and fresh squeezed lime juice and tequila. I very highly recommend splurging on some good tequila- with so few ingredients, high quality tequila really makes all the difference. (I used Patron in one batch and Cabo Wabo in another.) If you want to make yours “virgin”, just replace the tequila with orange juice! (Make a boozy batch for the grown-ups and a virgin batch for the kids!)

Pomegranate Granita-ritas
makes 4 margaritas

• 2c POM Wonderful pomegranate juice
• 2T stevia (or 1/4c sugar)
• 2oz lime juice
• 4-6oz good quality tequila (four shots)

In a microwave safe container, heat about 1/2c of the pomegranate juice until it is warm enough to dissolve the stevia. Once the stevia is dissolved, add the remaining ingredients and pour into a lidded, freezer-safe container. Place in freezer, and stir every couple hours until slushy. (Once it’s slushy, it can stay undisturbed until party-time!)

Before serving, scrape with a fork to loosen the slush back up.

Run a lime or orange wedge along the rim of a cocktail or margarita glass, and dip the rim in sugar. Fill with granita-rita and garnish with the fruit wedge and a froufy umbrella, if desired! Sit back, savor it’s icy, tangy flavor and say hello to summer!