This orange creamsicle granita recipe is the summer treat you’ve been looking for.
Healthy?
Easy?
Secretly also a kid activity?
Want more awesome recipes like these? I’ve rounded up some delicious, easy, and healthy ones from the best kid food bloggers around the internet. You can check it out here.
What the heck is a granita?
I came up with a lot of names for this recipe. Slushy? Shave ice? Icy treat?
Honestly, it doesn’t really matter. But technically this is a granita recipe.
In case you want to teach your kiddos a fun new word, here’s what that means (thanks to The Kitchn):
Granita is a frozen fruit dessert made from fresh fruit and water, blended and frozen until icy, flaked with a fork and frozen again. The result is a delightfully crunchy, melt-in-your-mouth fruit ice, perfect eating all on its own.
What’s especially cool about granitas is that you don’t need any fancy equipment. In fact, this one doesn’t even require a blender.
Literally, this recipe requires a shallow dish (Pyrex), mixing spoon, freezer, and fork. Oh, and a spoon to eat it all up.
Getting the kids involved
I’ve seen tons of posts on the internet of activities to keep your kids busy in the summer. And YES, who isn’t trying to keep their kids busy, with something other than TV, pretty much any time they’re out of school?
That said, I always feel like I deserve bonus points if an activity actually produces something useful. Like say, an orange creamsicle granita recipe that results in a healthy, icy treat that the kids can spend time enjoying once it’s made.
As you can see in the video up top, my 4-year-old was able to make this whole recipe mostly on his own. He was in charge of:
- Pouring the ingredients into the dish
- Stirring them together well
- Flaking the frozen dessert with a fork
The only things that I did were:
- Measure the ingredients
- Place the dish in the freezer
- Help with flaking up any bigger chunks
The truth is that kids are capable of so much more than we often give them credit for. By empowering them (in the kitchen and elsewhere), we show them and ourselves that they can do many of the tasks around the house. Bonus points if they take care of clean-up for the inevitable spills and messes that come along with doing things on their own!
Here are some other great summer treat recipes that kids could be mostly in charge of:
Orange Creamsicle Granita Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups orange juice
- 2 cups almond milk (or other non-dairy milk, unsweetened)
- 1/2 cup honey
Instructions
- Mix together orange juice, almond milk, and honey.
- Pour into a shallow, freezer-safe dish (like Pyrex). Lay flat in freezer or it will be uneven like ours was!
- Once frozen, remove and scrape into fine shavings. Serve and enjoy!
