Double Coffee Affogato

When it comes to the end note of a great restaurant meal, I truly am an 80-year-old woman at heart: Just coffee, please. If you have espresso, even better. If you make homemade ice cream in house, I might think about trying a scoop, but bring me my coffee while I mull it over. Oh, you have affogato? I will love this restaurant forever.

Affogatto is the Italian word for “drowned,” and it is generally a scoop of vanilla ice cream or gelato with hot espresso poured over it. Yes, the hot coffee instantly melts the cold ice cream, so you have to be ready to start eating it the moment it hits your table (no bathroom breaks once you’ve placed your affogato order, as Jeff learned the hard way one time). The combination of cold and sweet ice cream with hot and bitter coffee is one of the most lovely things in the world. I’m hoping more restaurants will take notice of how amazing affogato is, so it starts to become more widely offered in my area.

Since I so rarely find it at restaurants, I figured the best thing to do would be to just take matters into my own hands and make a version at home. With homemade ice cream, of course. Since I don’t have an espresso machine, I would be substituting very strong-brewed French press coffee for espresso. Why not sneak in another layer of coffee flavor by making coffee ice cream, too?

I made the simplest three-ingredient coffee ice cream using International Delight Iced Coffee. I basically took my standard lazy man’s (no cook) vanilla ice cream recipe, and used iced coffee in place of all of the milk. I used mocha flavored iced coffee here, but any flavor can be used to make this ice cream. Ready-to-drink International Delight Iced Coffee is sweet, creamy and oh so convenient. It’s not only great an ice cream ingredient, but delicious on it’s own. It’s the perfect cold beverage to relax with as summer winds down.

This homemade coffee ice cream is amazing on it’s own, but once you pour hot coffee over it, it’s pretty much heaven-on-earth for a coffee lover, especially if you’re an 80-year-old woman at heart.

Psst – if you’re a coffee lover like me, you won’t want to miss my homemade caramel coffee. It’s a fancy coffeehouse drink made at home.

Yield: Makes about 7 cups ice cream (about 14 servings of affogato)

Double Coffee Affogato

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Prep Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1-1/2 cups International Delight Mocha Iced Coffee
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• Espresso or strong brewed coffee, for the affogato

Instructions

1. Make the Coffee Ice Cream: Place cream, iced coffee and sugar in mixing bowl; mix on medium-low speed 2 minutes or until sugar is dissolved.
2. Pour mixture into ice cream machine and freeze according to instructions for machine (mine took about 25 minutes). Transfer ice cream to freezer to harden completely (at least 4 hours).
3. To make the affogato, place a small scoop of Coffee Ice Cream in a small glass or bowl, and pour hot espresso or strong coffee over it. Enjoy immediately!