Have you ever had an Affogato before? In the part of the world where I live, it’s not something you see on dessert menus all that often. In fact, I hadn’t really heard of it until a couple years ago.
The details are a bit hazy, like I can’t remember the name of the restaurant I was at, but I do remember thinking something along the lines of: WHOA, THIS IS AMAZING!!!!!!!
My brain thinks in all caps and uses too much punctuation sometimes.
It’s a simple dessert, usually just vanilla gelato or ice cream with a hot shot of espresso poured over. I love the blend of hot and cold elements and I also sort of love how it’s a very adult dessert with the addition of espresso. Sort of a grownup sundae, in a way.
Being only two ingredients, you really want those ingredients to be top quality. That’s why I was so excited to get to work with Nespresso. Their VertuoLine Evoluo machine is so easy to use (no bean grinding or grounds tamping required), and it makes both large cups of coffee and shots of espresso that taste fantastic.
Even though a traditional Affogato is made with only two ingredients, I thought it would fun to put together a few ideas for a dessert bar centered around this fantastic dessert.
This would be the absolutely perfect end to a dinner party or holiday meal you might be hosting this season. Of course you could also use one of the following ideas to just make a little weekend treat for you and a friend and skip the whole bar thing too. Whatever works for you. Now let’s talk flavor combinations!
If you are hosting and want to set up a dessert bar, all you need are plenty of little bowls or juice cups (I used ramekins too) to fill with your toppings. Here’s a few ideas:
-Caramel & sea salt
-Peanut butter cups, chopped
-Crushed hard candies
-Sprinkles
-Cookies or cookie crumbs
-Fresh fruit
-Maraschino cherries
But you don’t have to stop at just the toppings. You could also have a few different ice cream or gelato flavors on hand.
A couple that I tried and LOVED were orange sherbet and chocolate ice cream. Orange and espresso pair really nicely together, sort of like orange and chocolate.
And of course, if you or your guests are chocolate lovers, then you could switch out the vanilla ice cream or gelato for chocolate or really any other flavor you love.
A fun seasonal variation is vanilla ice cream with crushed peppermint—just the right amount of holiday cheer and caffeine. 🙂
So, there you go. If you’ve never had an Affogato before, you must try one soon. This is one of the easiest desserts to make and it’s so very delicious. Enjoy! xo. Emma
C
Absolutely love this idea! A bit more sophisticated than a typical ice cream sundae bar, but every bit as fun. 🙂
Oh wow I really love coffee and I’ve never heard of combining both espresso and ice cream. Believe me or not but I’m going to try this at home tommorow – my boyfriend would love it 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
I’ll be honest with you, I’m not a big fan of “individual cups” espresso machines. Don’t get me wrong, Nespresso’s coffee is amazing tastewise and yeah, it’s super easy but gosh is it expensive in the long run. My mother has a Nespresso machine while I have a regular Espresso machine which I need to fill with espresso I ground myself. It’s a one cup machine and I have to clean it up after each use but ultimately, at the end of the year I would have spent maybe 80-100 dollars on espresso while my mom would spend around 800 dollars a year. And she’s not using the more expensive virtuo line you’re showing here. Now granted, this is a sponsored post and this is great coffee and you’re also posting a yummy looking recipe but I just wanted to point out how much more expensive it is in the long run so that people can make a smart decision in line with their budget if they are thinking of getting an espresso machine. Cheers.
Hey guys, I really love your blog and all your fun cooking ideas, but please, *please* don’t promote Nestle – they are one of the most unethical companies out there! I don’t know if it’s the same in the US, but here in the UK there have been campaigns against them for decades because of some of their practices.
Wow, these look so tasty. Lovin’ it!
yummmmmmm!
I feel a little spoilt right now. We used to get these in college all the time. We were lucky enough to have a tiny coffee dock in one of our buildings that also served ice cream and would pop in for an affogato after particularly stressful lectures.
Oh I love this! The last time I had an affogato was in Santa Fe where I had it made with amaretto gelato – YUM.
Oh that sounds lovely!
Yes go Aussies! You can find Affogatos on almost every cafe menu 🙂 Seriously good with a shot of Baileys!
The trick with vegemite is to have tons of butter and just a scraping of vegemite – my husband makes vegemite sandwiches with a layer as thick as peanut butter and it’s so foul.
J x
How fun! I have some friends who would adore this!
This post served it’s purpose perfectly. I now want to go buy that machine and have a dessert party!!! {party of 1 of course}
♥Heather
Absolutely love this idea! A bit more sophisticated than a typical ice cream sundae bar, but every bit as fun. 🙂
Somehow you’ve made one of the most classic Italian desserts look like American candy! 😉
It’s a great idea that I’m so going to try!
xx,
E:
www.theslowpace.com
There’s a place close to where I live that makes coffee but also hot chocolate affogatos (with relaly strong, bitter, dark hot chocolate, which would be good if someone was toning down their caffeine intake) – absolutely delicious with cardamom or ginger gelato or ice-cream… but LOVE the Chai idea! Spice with the hot/cold and Sweet sounds incredible!
We have a restaurant that used to have affogato on the dessert menu. But it was affogato taken to a whole new level: three scoops of gelato- vanilla, chocolate, & coffee. Served with two little pitchers, one espresso and one warm hazelnut liquor, and a homemade biscotti. Put all of it together- amazing.
Verything with coffee is perfect, we love it for desserts!
http://www.inatrendytown.com
I had never heard of affogato until I moved to Ireland, and here most of the fancy restaurants have it on the dessert menu in the colder months. However, theirs is always boozy! Generally topped with a shot of nice amaretto after the espresso. Gives it a slightly smoother, sweeter taste and texture with a punch– SO GOOD.
My father, when I was a child, slowly introduced to me to coffee: “Arianna, you are Italian, so you have to drink coffee the right way” – the right way being an espresso . We started with the affogato, because there was ice cream inside. After this one, there were other steps, but i still love affogato and prefer it to the espresso, even now that I´m 23. You can imagine how proud my father is =)
https://pandaonavespa.wordpress.com/
Looking amazing <3 ..I love coffee. I thin I am a bit addict.. But just a bit..
And you made so nice pictures of that!