Affogato has got to be one of the easiest desserts to prepare. It literally means ‘ice cream drowned in espresso’ – and that’s exactly what it is. If you love coffee, you will ADORE affogato – I certainly do!
I had my first affogato in the summer of 2013, the first time I went to Italy. We visited a small medieval town called ‘San Leo’ in the Emilia Romagna region. We were heading back to San Marino (another medieval town that is technically not part of Italy); and we stopped by a trattoria that’s almost in the border between San Marino and Italy. Speaking of ‘border’, there is literally ONE house smack in that border – so the right half belongs to Italy and the other half belongs to San Marino! I have no idea which part is inhabited though… 😉
Enough of that segue. 🙂 The trattoria was packed with locals since it was lunchtime. I remember stepping in the big dining room and the entire room smells of tomato sauce, bread, and I don’t know what else, it just smelled UNBELIEVABLY good! Suffice it to say, I ate until I was sure I could not eat anything more. 😀 (C’mon, wouldn’t you? 😀 ) I wanted a dessert that will help me stay awake for the rest of our drive, but light and refreshing at the same time. My husband’s aunt said she knew exactly what I should have – and lo and behold, affogato came into my life. 😉
From what I’ve seen (at least in Emilia Romagna region), they either have affogato with vanilla or chocolate ice cream. Maybe because these two flavors really go well with espresso. Personally, I prefer vanilla for my affogato. I just feel it makes the taste of coffee ‘sing’ more, than chocolate. I do like a sprinkle of cocoa powder on top, for that touch of chocolate – and then some toasted almonds for crunch. 🙂
- 430 grams ice cream, vanilla
- 4 servings espresso, freshly-made
- 1 tsp cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp chopped almonds, toasted
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Place three medium-sized scoops of ice cream in a glass.
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Pour one serving of freshly-made espresso on the same glass, submerging the ice cream halfway.
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Sprinkle cocoa powder and chopped almonds on top.
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Serve.
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Tina A says
Do you pour hot espresso over the ice cream or do you let it cool first?
Neriz says
Hi Tina,
Yep, you pour the espresso while it’s still hot. Since the ice cream is frozen, it would only start melting the sides, still got a bit of solid chunk left in there. 🙂