Spiced Red Wine and Pomegranate Granita

Ingredients

• 1 stick cinnamon (5-inch)
• 2 cups merlot dry red
• 3  orange rind strips ()
• 0.3 cup sugar 
• 16 ounce pomegranate-tangerine juice (such as POM Wonderful)
• 3.5 cups non-dairy whipped topping fat-free refrigerated canned (such as Reddi-wip)

Equipment

• bowl
• frying pan
• sauce pan
• sieve
• baking pan

Directions

1. Bring first 5 ingredients to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat.
2. Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes. Strain mixture through a sieve into a bowl; discard solids. Stir juice into wine mixture.
3. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Freeze, uncovered, 1 hour. Scrape entire mixture with a fork to break up ice crystals. Freeze an additional 1 hour, scraping again with a fork after 30 minutes.
4. Scoop 1/4 cup granita into each of 7 (10-ounce) stemmed glasses; top each with 2 tablespoons whipped topping. Repeat layers 3 times, ending with whipped topping.
5. Granita Tips: Although mixtures freeze faster in metal pans, we used a glass dish because this recipe has a high acid content from the wine, and the acid might react with an aluminum pan. A fork is the best utensil to scrape the frozen mixture because it produces a nice fine-grained ice.
6. Serve the granita in chilled bowls or glasses because the ice melts quickly.
7. Granita (grah-nee-TAH), or Italian ice, must be intensely flavorful to be authentic. Creamy whipped topping balances the flavor of the ice.