Affogato

There is something nice about ending a dinner with something small. Not another course, not something heavy — just a glass with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and hot espresso poured over the top.

Affogato is hardly a recipe, which is part of the reason I like it. By the time dessert comes around, the kitchen is mostly clean, everyone is a little more relaxed, and all that’s left to do is pour the espresso and carry the glasses to the table.

It’s simple, a little bit bittersweet, and exactly the kind of dessert that feels right after a long dinner.

Just a little grated chocolate over the top.

Affogato

Ingredients

• Vanilla ice cream

• Hot espresso

Instructions

Put a scoop of vanilla ice cream into a small glass and pour a shot of hot espresso over the top. Serve immediately.

A simple dessert that’s just espresso and ice cream, but somehow feels like more than that.

If you want to dress it up a little, you can add shaved chocolate, crushed biscotti, or a small splash of amaretto. But most of the time, I just leave it the way it is.

Just a little grated chocolate over the top.

If you want to make the ice cream from scratch, you can use my Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream recipe. But this is also the kind of dessert that works perfectly well with good store-bought ice cream, which makes it a very easy dessert to serve when you have people over.