American · Dessert
Root Beer Float Ice
A soda-fountain classic reimagined as a hand-scraped granita: a syrup of molasses, vanilla, cinnamon and star anise is frozen and forked into loose, sandy ice crystals that taste unmistakably of root beer, then finished with a cloud of barely-whipped cream to echo the classic float.
$1
10 minsPrep
5 minsCook
240 minsTotal
EasyLevel
Nutrition per serving
175Calories
0.5gProtein
9.6gFat
21.2gCarbs
20.6gSugar
0.3gFiber
10mgSodium
27mgChol
5.9gSat Fat
102mgPotassium
35mgCalcium
0.5mgIron
0mcgVitamin B12
0.2mgVitamin C
0gPolyol
0gAllulose
0.7gAlcohol
Goes well with
English Brown Ale
local
Classic American Root Beer
international
vegetarian
gluten-free
sweet-spot
hidden-gems
Instructions
1
Combine the water, sugar, molasses, cinnamon and star anise in a small saucepan and warm gently over low heat, stirring until the sugar fully dissolves, about 3 minutes — do not let it boil.
2
Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla extract, and let the spiced syrup steep and cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes, then fish out the star anise pod.
3
Pour the cooled syrup into a shallow freezer-safe tray (about 350ml capacity) so it sits in a thin layer no more than 2cm deep.
4
Freeze for 45 minutes, then drag a fork through the half-set syrup to break up the forming ice crystals into coarse flakes.
5
Return to the freezer and repeat the forking/scraping every 30-40 minutes for the next 2-3 hours, until the whole tray is made up of loose, fluffy, root-beer-coloured ice crystals with no liquid pooling at the base.
6
Just before serving, whip the heavy cream to soft floppy peaks.
7
Pile the scraped root beer ice into two chilled glasses or bowls, 2 scoops each, and top each portion with a spoonful of the softly whipped cream to mimic a root beer float.
8
Serve immediately while the ice crystals are still cold and loose.
Serves
2 portions ·
2 adults, 0 over 10, 0 under 10
Ingredients
- 150g150g Water
- 32g32g Sugar White
- 10g10g Molasses, flavour base
- 4g4g Vanilla Extract, flavour
- 1g1g Cinnamon Ground, spice
- 1g1g Star Anise, whole, steeped then removed, spice
- 40g40g Heavy Cream, lightly whipped, float swirl, post-cook garnish, 1
