Coffee Affogato With Vanilla Ice Cream
Enjoy a bowl of Coffee Affogato With Vanilla Ice Cream with shredded coconut, shaved chocolate, and Stroopwafels cookies.
Friends, this is one of our favorite desserts to serve any time of year. Especially for all of our coffee-loving friends! Today is International Coffee Day, so we are especially loving coffee today! Affogato is a classic, simple dessert that is absolutely fabulous.
Coffee Affogato With Vanilla Ice Cream
The word “affogato” literally translates to “drowned” in Italian. Traditionally, gelato is the frozen dairy of choice to be drowned by a freshly pulled shot of espresso, but you can also use vanilla ice cream. It’s a lovely dessert for any occassion..
Pumpkin spice and everything nice (you can make our own Pumpkin Latte, too), that’s what fall hospitality is all about. I wonder what this would taste like with pumpkin ice cream? :) This is also a lovely after-dinner treat.
All you need are these ingredients for Coffee Affogato:
- Vanilla bean ice cream
- Toasted shredded coconut
- 60-70% dark chocolate
- Stroopwafels cookies
- Espresso shots or buy Espresso Instant Coffee
We used vanilla ice cream because of its higher fat content—but gelato works, too, of course. Hot espresso drowns frigid ice cream, melting it into a pool of hot and cold, bitter and sweet swirls. With the addition of toasted coconut, crisp chocolate chunks, and waffle cookies, affogato becomes more complex, with added texture and complimentary flavors.
How to make Coffee Affogato
- In four, shallow parfait dishes (but really, any glass will do), portion out your ice cream. Prepare your espresso using a machine, a moka pot, or instant espresso powder.
- Pour over 2 oz of espresso onto the ice cream, sprinkle with your desired toppings, and enjoy immediately.
Substitutions:
Of course, if fully caffeinated coffee is a problem for you or your guests, simply use decaf.
Love gelato? Vanilla gelato is delish in this recipe.
You can use any other wafer crisps or cookies crumbled, too.
Add in shaved dark chocolate.
Oh, and want to make Iced Coffee? So good!!
I wrote this over 10 years ago … A Night that Ends with Affogato!
A Night that Ends with Affogato
One hot summer’s night I remember vividly.
The friends who came got babysitters, and I was able to put my kids down early, with the older boys watching a movie in our room.
Dessert was a treat. We served one of our favorite summer recipes, Affogato, at our outdoor dining table. Then we moved over to a more cozy area to talk some more.
There were 8 of us total and I started massaging my guests hands, as we talked about life.
One by one …
It was not planned.
It was intimate.
Very relaxing.
Relational.
To this day these friends are very close to our family and part of our lives. I love unplanned moments that transform us into who we are today.
So many of these moments have happened in our home, when we invited others in.
Happy Internation COFFEE DAY, Friends!
Here are a few of my favorite COFFEE items + brand of coffee
Storyville Coffee – proceeds go to human trafficking
Make real Italian coffee without a “machine” and use a Stovetop Esspresso Maker (affiliate link)
Instant espresso is a great alternative if you don’t have access to a machine or moka pot, but still want to make a strongly flavored adffogato (because unfortunately, coffee is too watered down to substitute).
Stock up on Stroopwafels (Dutch waffle cookies)!
We have the Jura Automatic Coffee Center that we love, after trying several other brands. This grinds the beans fresh every morning. It’s well worth the investment if you’re shopping around.
Get the Recipe:
Coffee Affogato With Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 4 ½ cup servings vanilla bean ice cream, or other preferred portion size
- ⅓ c toasted shredded coconut
- ⅓ c 60-70% dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- 8 mini stroopwafels
- 8 oz espresso shots
Instructions
- In four, shallow parfait dishes (but really, any glass will do), portion out your ice cream. Prepare your espresso using a machine, a moka pot, or instant espresso powder.
- Pour over 2 oz of espresso onto the ice cream, sprinkle with your desired toppings, and enjoy immediately.
Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
