Best Italian Ice Recipes

ITALIAN ICE

Steps:

• Blend the fruit, sugar, honey and lemon juice with 2 cups ice in a food processor or blender until chunky. Add another 1 cup ice and blend until completely smooth.
• Pour the mixture into a shallow baking dish and freeze 30 minutes. Scrape the ice with a fork until slushy, then freeze until firm, about 2 more hours. Scoop into paper cups.

ITALIAN LEMON ICE

Steps:

• Whisk water, sugar, and lemon zest together in a medium saucepan, then bring to a boil over high heat. Continue to whisk and boil for 5 minutes. Let mixture cool for 10 minutes. Whisk in lemon juice.
• Transfer mixture to an 8x8-inch pan and freeze for 1 1/2 hours.
• Remove pan from the freezer and stir with a fork to break up the ice. Freeze again for 3 hours. Scrape and mix ice into shavings with a fork.
• Serve in chilled glasses garnished with mint and lemon wedges. Top with raspberry-flavored liqueur as a little something extra for adults.

ITALIAN LEMON ICE (GRANITA)

Steps:

• Combine 2 cups of the water with the sugar in a medium nonreactive saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium heat.
• Cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved.
• Add the salt, stir, and remove the pan from the heat.
• Stir in the remaining water and let cool to room temperature.
• Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, place a shallow metal 2 1/2 qt container (such as a large cake pan) in the freezer to chill.
• Add the lemon juice, lemon peel, and extract to the chilled sugar mixture; stir until well blended.
• Pour into the chilled metal pan.
• Place the pan in the freezer for 30-60 minutes, or until ice crystals form around the edges.
• Stir the ice crystals into the center of the pan and return to the freezer.
• Repeat every 30 minutes, or until all the liquid is crystallized but not frozen solid, about 3 hours.
• To serve, scoop the granita into chilled dessert bowls or goblets.
• (If the granita has become too hard, scrape it with a large metal spoon to break up the ice crystals.) Serve at once.
• Advance Preparation: The granita can be stored, covered, for up to four days in the freezer, but it will have become frozen solid.
• To serve, either allow the granita to thaw in the refridgerator until you can scrape the crystals, or break it up into chunks and process with on/off motions in a food processor fitted with the knife blade until fairly smooth.

STRAWBERRY ITALIAN ICE

Steps:

• In a blender, combine the apple juice concentrate, lemon juice and strawberries; cover and process until blended. Pour into an ungreased 8-in. square dish. Cover and freeze for 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until partially set. , Spoon into a large bowl; beat on medium speed for 1-1/2 minutes. Return to dish; freeze for 2-3 hours or until firm. , Remove from the freezer 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with mint if desired.

ITALIAN ICE

Steps:

• In a saucepan, dissolve sugar in water.
• Add fruit juice, strawberries, or chocolate.
• If adding fruit juice, let stand 5 minutes, then strain out rind.
• Pour mixture into freezing tray & freeze, stirring frequently until mixture is thick & mushy.
• Serve in chilled champagne glasses with appropriate garnish.

SPUMONI (ITALIAN ICE CREAM LIKE DESSERT)

Steps:

• Chill a 1 quart spumoni mold well.
• If you don't have a spumoni mold, a 1 quart gelatin mold will work very well.
• First Mixture: Combine milk, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla in a sauce pan.
• Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until thickend (like a pudding).
• Cool mixture.
• Place cooled mixture in a freezer tray and freeze until medium hard (about 2 hours).
• It should be soft enough to spoon out easily, but hard enough to hold its shape.
• Second Mixture: In Bowl, beat heavy cream and sugar together until stiff.
• Gently mix in the cherries, orange peel and almonds.
• Chill the second mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator.
• Filling Mold: When first mixture is ready (semi-frozen), remove from freezer tray and line the inside of the chilled mold with it.
• With the back of a spoon, shape a hollow in the middle of the first mixture.
• Fill the hollow with the second mixture.
• Cover the top of the mold with plastic wrap or waxed paper, and freeze for about 2 hours (until very firm).
• To serve, dip mold briefly in warm water and unmold onto a serving plate.
• Cut spumoni into 6-8 portions.

ITALIAN CREMA ICE CREAM (GELATO ALLA CREMA)

Steps:

• Pour milk into a saucepan. Add 2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar and egg yolks. Whisk thoroughly. Cook over medium heat, stirring gently with a spatula, until custard is steaming-hot and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes. Stir in heavy cream and salt and remove from heat.
• Pour custard through a fine mesh strainer and refrigerate until completely chilled, 8 hours to overnight.
• Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's instructions, about 20 minutes. Seal top with plastic wrap, cover with a lid, and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.

LIME ITALIAN ICE

Steps:

• Fill a large bowl with ice water. Place another bowl inside so it's surrounded on all sides by the ice water. In a medium saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil. When sugar has dissolved, remove from heat and add lime juice. Pour into bowl sitting in the ice bath to cool lime mixture, about 15 minutes. Pour mixture into a 10 by 12-inch baking dish that's sitting on a sheet tray and put in the freezer. After 1 1/2 hours, remove from freezer and scrape the ice with a fork, being sure to mix the softer center with the more frozen outer edges. Put back into the freezer for another 1 1/2 hours. Before serving, scrape again using the fork.

ITALIAN LEMON ICE

Steps:

• ***Water Ices*** (serves 4).
• Melt sugar in hot water, add lemon juice and rind.
• Let mixture stand for 5 minutes.
• Strain, place mixture in a freezing tray and freeze, stirring frequently, until it reaches a mushy consistency.
• If you have an electric ice cream machine, pour mixture into machine and freeze according to manufacturer's directions.
• ****Roman Style**** (serves 6).
• Combine sugar and water in saucepan, heat until sugar melts.
• Add lemon juice.
• Strain mixture through a very fine sieve.
• Freeze until mushy, stirring frequently.
• Beat egg white until stiff.
• Remove ice mixture from freezer when mushy.
• Add stiffly beaten egg white and 1/4 cup sugar and mix well.
• Add rum and mix.
• Return to freezer and continue to freeze to ices consistency (not solid), stirring often.
• If you have an electric ice cream machine, pour mixture into machine and freeze according to manufacturer's directions.
• Add beaten egg white and sugar according to manufacturer's instructions as you would if you were adding additional ingredients (nuts, choc chips, etc) to your ice cream.

CANTALOUPE ITALIAN ICE

Steps:

• Dissolve sugar and water in a 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool.
• Peel and seed the cantaloupes. Cut into 2-inch pieces. Puree in a food processor. Strain through a medium sieve. Mix strained cantaloupe juice, sugar syrup, and lemon juice with a wire whisk.
• Pour into an ice cream machine. Add some cantaloupe pulp, if desired. Freeze to a smooth consistency, according to manufacturer's directions.
• You may wish to place in the freezer compartment of your refrigerator for a few hours to harden. Serve in a dessert glass topped with whipped cream or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Garnish with fresh mint leaves.

ITALIAN WATER ICE - ORANGE

Steps:

• Boil water and sugar together for 5 minutes.
• Cool.
• Stir in juice and peel.
• Pour into shallow bowl and put in freezer.
• As it starts to freeze, keep stirring the outside crystals into the center and mix in peel.
• Do about every half hour -MUST DO!.
• When real slushy, stop and freeze overnight.
• To serve, you must scrape very thin layers of the slush off the top.
• I use a big spoon with sharp edges moving it sideways.

LEMON-FLAVORED ITALIAN ICE

Steps:

• Combine water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in light corn syrup and lemon juice.
• Allow to cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
• Divide cooled mixture amongst 3 plastic containers and freeze for 1 hour. Scrape ice crystals with a fork and return to freezer until ice is semi-frozen, 1 to 2 hours, scraping ice crystals every 30 minutes.
• Scoop Italian ice into small serving cups or cones and serve.

CHERRY ITALIAN ICE

Steps:

• Mix water and sugar till dissolved.
• Add cherry mixture.
• Freeze in ice cream freezer. Keep frozen.

CANTALOUPE ITALIAN ICE

Steps:

• Place a 7x12-inch glass dish in the freezer to chill.
• Combine sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat. Cook until sugar has completely dissolved. Add mint, remove from heat, and set aside to cool.
• Place melon in a food processor and process until pureed; pour into a bowl. Strain mint leaves from cooled syrup and add syrup to the melon. Stir until well combined.
• Pour cantaloupe mixture into the chilled dish and freeze uncovered for 3 to 4 hours, stirring with a fork every 30 minutes. Continue until mixture is almost frozen and a bit grainy; don't let it freeze completely, otherwise you won't be able to serve it.
• Place in a decorative bowl and garnish with mint leaves.

ITALIAN RAINBOW COOKIE ICE CREAM CAKE

Steps:

• Cut the cookies to form 1-by-1-by-1/2-inch squares. Line a 9-inch springform pan with plastic wrap. Arrange the cookie squares all the way around the sides of the pan with the color lines running perpendicular to the bottom of the pan. Repeat with an additional ring of cookies above the first ring, lining up the colors as much as possible, so the cookies come 2 inches up the sides of the pan and almost completely cover them.
• Lay one cookie square in the middle of the bottom of the pan. Arrange a second cookie square next to it, with the color lines perpendicular to the color lines in the first cookie. Continue arranging cookie squares to create a parquet floor pattern. Fill the bottom of the pan with cookies, cutting some to fill in any odd-shaped areas. Chill until cold, about 30 minutes.
• Combine the chocolate and oil in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until melted, about 2 minutes. Using a pastry brush, coat the cookies on the bottom and sides with a thin layer of chocolate. Chill until set, about 5 minutes.
• Spread one of the pints of vanilla ice cream in an even layer over the chocolate-coated bottom cookies. Freeze until hard, about 1 hour. Spread the chocolate ice cream in an even layer over the vanilla. Freeze until hard, about 1 hour. Spread the remaining pint of vanilla ice cream in an even layer over the chocolate ice cream. Cover with the remaining cookie pieces. Freeze until solid, 6 hours to overnight.
• When ready to serve, invert the cake onto a plate so the bottom layer of cookies is on the top. Remove the pan and peel off the plastic wrap. Cut with a hot dry knife.

STRAWBERRY ITALIAN ICE

Steps:

• Combine strawberries, sugar, orange juice, and lemon-lime soda in a blender; blend until smooth.
• Transfer into a freezer safe container and freeze for about 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes.

CHERRY ITALIAN ICE

Steps:

• Combine cherry Jell-O®, cherry soft drink mix, sugar, and boiling water in a bowl. Stir until dissolved. Add cold water and stir to combine. Pour into individual serving size paper cups and allow to cool to room temperature.
• Freeze until hard, about 6 hours.

ITALIAN GRANITA LEMON ICE CREAM

Steps:

• Boil the sugar and water for 5 minutes. Then let the syrup cool down and add the lemon juice and grated lemon zest. Boil everything again. Let it cool down again and put it in the freezer in a metallic container. Turn the mixture while it is freezing every 20 minutes. The Granita will be ready after 3-4 hours.

ITALIAN ICE CREAM CONES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300°F In a medium bowl, beat the sugar into the egg until it is thickened and pale yellow. Beat in the butter, vanilla, and milk. Gently stir in the flour.
• Grease a nonstick cookie sheet and spread 1 1/2 tablespoon of the batter into a 6 inch circle using a thin, flexible spatula. Dipping the spatula in water first make this job easier. The batter will spread about 1/2 inch while baking, so keep the circles about 1 inch apart. Fit as many circles as you can on 1 cookie sheet.
• Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and use a large metal spatula to remove 1 cookie from the sheet. Handling it carefully so as not to burn your hands, immediately wrap the hot, pliable cookie around a cone shaped mold, sealing the point. (*** HINT HERE*** - in case you don't want to go out and buy the cones these can be made into bowl cones simply by picking 4 bowls all the same shape and size, and place the hot cookie over the bottoms of the bowls. The cookies will fall around the sides of the bowls.) Repeat with the remaining cookies. The cookies will harden as they cool, so work as quickly as possible. Let the cookie sheet cool and repeat the process with the remaining batter. Remove the cones from from the molds when completely cool.

ITALIAN WATER ICE - FRESH PEACH

Steps:

• Puree peaches in blender with lemon juice.
• Boil water and sugar together for 5 minutes.
• Cool.
• Stir in juice and peel.
• Pour into shallow bowl and put in freezer.
• As it starts to freeze, keep stirring the outside crystals into the center and mix in peel.
• Do about every half hour -MUST DO!.
• When real slushy, stop and freeze overnight.
• To serve, you must scrape very thin layers of the slush off the top.
• I use a big spoon with sharp edges moving it sideways.