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Affogato

What is an Affogato coffee?

Affogato in Italian means ‘drowned’, and essentially this is what you’re going to do with the ice cream – drown it in espresso.

An Affogato really is a great treat on a sunny day when you need your coffee fix but you’re after something a bit more cooling and refreshing than a hot cup of coffee. They are easy to make at home and can be used as a great end to a meal or just as a treat to share with friends and family.

This ice cream and espresso treat is most suited to the warmer summer months but if you’re anything like me and just love espresso and ice cream, there is no reason why we can’t enjoy them all year round!

As a variation, affogatos are also great with Amaretto or possibly a dark Crème de Cacao.

Ingredients:

–       Double shot of espresso

–        1/3 of a tumbler of creamy vanilla or chocolate ice cream

–       Optional – 25ml Amaretto, Crème de Cacao or preferred liqueur

Recipe

Affogato-ice-cream-in-cup

Stage 1

First of all we are going to get our tumbler and prepare our ice cream. The best ice cream to use is a creamy Cornish ice cream or something similar (surprised by the sudden wave of sunshine I was limited on choice and went for a Scottish ice cream because it has a high cream content). With the ice cream you are going to put some into the glass and really push it down into the bottom. The aim is to cram it all into the glass so there are no air pockets. Once you have about 1/3 of the glass full, stop and give it one last push down so it is nice and hard. Level the ice cream off so there is a flat surface for the espresso to layer onto. While we go and prepare our espresso, just bob this into the freezer for a few minutes to keep cool and solid.

Affogato-ice-cream-and-espresso-shot

Stage 2

We need to prepare our espresso as you normally would, into an espresso cup or shot pitcher. My advice to you would be to use a coffee you really love, don’t skimp on it because it is going to be served with ice cream; the espresso is still the most important ingredient to get right if we want this to taste good. If you have a coffee that you find works well with milk, you may want to use that as this will be delicious towards the end when the ice cream has melted and mixed with the espresso. Once the espresso is ready, we need to bring it all together and serve.

Affogato-pouring-espresso

Stage 3

Serve the espresso on the side with the ice cream on a saucer with a spoon. Let them (or yourself), pour the espresso over the ice cream and, if you’ve packed the ice cream in hard enough, you will see the espresso layer on top of the ice cream and it will slowly melt through and mix together.

 Dig in and enjoy your Affogato.

Affogato-homemade