Recently, in my doom-scrolls through Instagram and TikTok, I’ve come across multiple videos from different accounts, all raving about this one gelato store in Florence named Vivoli Gelateria. There’s one item on their menu in particular that has been serving looks on all our For You pages, and it's their affogato — served in a coffee cup filled with ice cream, with a crater in the middle for the espresso shot to be poured into! Genius!
Now I don’t live in Italy, and I’m assuming neither do most of you who are reading this. So, to get a taste of this, I have a simple recipe to get a taste of Vivoli’s affogato, at home. Spoiler alert: you don’t even need an ice cream churner, or an espresso machine. Now who’s the real genius? (I kid.)
After testing out multiple no-churn ice cream recipes to varying degrees of success, I found a clear winner for this affogato application — Eric Kim’s No-Churn Ice Cream! To make it, you just flavor some heavy cream with vanilla, sugar, and a touch of salt, and whip it up to soft peaks. Then, while the cream is pliable, you’re going to fill it straight into the coffee cup you’re eventually serving the affogato in, and dig out a crater in it for the espresso to nestle into. This requires a bit of finesse to get it looking pretty, but the best part is you don’t have to worry about the ice cream melting, because it’s just set cream at this point. So just take your time shaping it until you’re satisfied with the holey work of art you just made, then freeze it solid.
Then, whenever you’re hankering for an affogato, just extract an espresso, push the knob on your Nespresso, or whip up a quarter cup of instant coffee. (Yes it works with any coffee!) Pour your coffee into the ice cream crater, and you’ll have a fancy looking affogato for hot afternoons, for afterparties, and for happily ever afters! —Jun
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