Horchata Granita Recipe

Im not mexicana, but growing up, my church community was. I learned to appreciate mexican food at an early age. A few of my favorite mexican foods and beverages are part of my regular menu rotation, but others i hesitate to make because of the time needed to prepare them. Horchata is one of them. I cant go into a mexican restaurant and not order a glass of horchata. Its a sweet and refreshing compliment to the spiciness of the food. I have been making a lot of sorbets and ice creams in the last year and had the idea of making horchata granita (similar to shaved ice or a snow cone) because it does not require an ice cream maker. My horchata recipe uses rice flour as a short-cut to having to puree whole grain rice several times in a blender. I also add milk in order to provide a creamier consistency to the granita. Feel free to replace your horchata recipe with mine. My recipe is meant to capture the flavor of traditional horchata while cutting down on the preparation time, especially since converting it into a granita takes some time of its own.