Cool Treats For A Hot 4th

Recipes for Watermelon Granita, Ice Cream Sandwich And More

(CBS)  An icy dessert can add just the sparkle you need for your Fourth of July picnic or barbecue.

An easy-to-make frozen treat like an Italian ice or "Granita" comes in all sorts of flavors, with lemon and coffee being the most common. On The Early Show Friday, cookbook author and teacher Tori Ritchie prepares one with a favorite summer fruit, watermelon.

She also shares her ice cream sandwich recipe and shows viewers inventive ways to dress up the usual ice cream.

The following are her recipes:

Watermelon Granita
Granita is a cooling, icy slush made during the furnace-like summers in Italy. Like ice cream, granitas come in a variety of sweet, refreshing flavors, such as melon, peach, nectarine, berry or coffee. If you wish, garnish this granita with tiny wedges of well-chilled watermelon.

Ingredients:
4 to 5 packed cups seedless watermelon chunks
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

Method:

1. Place the watermelon chunks in a blender and puree until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. You should have 2-cups puree.
   
   
2. In a saucepan over high heat, combine the water and sugar. Heat, stirring, just until the sugar dissolves. Add the sugar syrup and lemon juice to the watermelon puree and stir well. Pour the mixture into a shallow 9-by-13-inch metal or glass-baking dish.
   
   
3. Place, uncovered, in the freezer until ice crystals begin to form, 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Using a fork, stir to break up the mixture. Return to the freezer and freeze, stirring with the fork every 30 minutes to prevent the mixture from forming a solid mass. It should be evenly crystallized and like slush in another 2 hours.
   
   
4. To serve, spoon or scoop the granita into chilled serving dishes. Serves 6.