Call it whatever you want... Italian Ice, Lemon Ice, Granita, Sorbet, or Sorbetto, it is still a sweet and tasty cold treat perfect for hot summer days. This recipe came out of my attempt to make a watermelon-lemonade granita BUT when I sliced open the seedless watermelon, it was rotten! Since I had the bunch of lemons, and my kitchen gadgets lined up to practice my new recipe, I figured I'd make lemon ice out of lemons instead of lemonade. :)  

I am happy to report that this idea froze into a delicious dessert that anyone can do.

BONUS: This is a dairy-free dessert, so no worries for the lactose intolerant.

Ingredients

🍋Zest of 1 organic lemon (organic fruit is important when "zesting" to avoid pesticides)

🍋6 medium sized lemons

🍋Sugar 

🍋Spring Water

Instructions

1. Zest the skin of the organic lemon and make it naked! 
2. Squeeze the lemons (I like to use an electric juicer to extract every drop, see ad below; these are very helpful if you don't have one)
3. Pour lemon juice into a large measuring cup and note amount
4. Measure out sugar to equal HALF the amount of lemon juice you've extracted
5. Measure out water in the SAME amount of lemon juice
6. Pour the lemon juice, water, and sugar into a blender and do a quick blending
7. Spoon in the zest and stir
8. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker (I have a Donvier, see ad below; I've had this item for 20 years and it's still going strong so I highly recommend it if you don't have one in your kitchen arsenal)
9. The liquid took about 25 minutes - turning every 3 minutes - to freeze hard enough to crystalize but soft enough to scoop out
10. Scoop the ice mixture into a freezer-safe glass container with cover (I used an Anchor Hocking 1 quart container, and the frozen mixture of 6 juiced lemons plus other ingredients almost filled it to the rim)
11. Freeze for at least 2 hours. 

After the lemon ice has frozen for at least 2 hours, take it out and leave on the counter for about 5 minutes to soften a tiny bit. I used a serrated grapefruit spoon to "scrape" or "shave" the ice off the top; you could also use an ice cream scoop to shave the ice. Once you get going with this motion, it's easy.

This dessert shouts "summer!" so think creatively when plating. As you can see, I used a margarita glass in the picture. (Of course, I had extra lime in the house, so that was an easy choice for the garnish.) Try champagne flutes or small juice glasses when serving. TIP: For the adults, you could add a small splash of vodka or tequila just before serving to give it an extra kick!

If you are going to use this as intermezzo (a palate cleanser between courses) then small aperitif or shot glasses would work. If you are serving kids an afternoon treat outdoors, use small paper cups or snow cone holders; this is safe and makes for an easy cleanup! Enjoy!!

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Related Here We Are articles you may also like:

Besides garnish, here are 10 Easy Ways To Use A Lime, including my recent video on How To Make Lime Salad Dressing - low cal, low sodium, no preservatives - super flavorful.

Need a nifty drink idea for your next party? Check out my video on concocting a Tropical Pineapple Drink in the pineapple shell, delicious and pretty! 

Love lemons? Squeeze up my Lemonade recipe for another tempting, summer refresher. 

For your convenience, here are some of the items I own and use in my HWA recipes. Please know for certain that I would not mention them in my articles or suggest them to you if I didn't really like them! ~ Luci