Double Coffee Affogato

An affogato is an Italian dessert where a fresh shot of espresso is poured over a small scoop of ice cream. It’s a perfect melding of hot and cold for a coffee-lover. I usually make these with vanilla ice cream or gelato because vanilla and coffee is always a winning combination in my book. That said, you can really use any kind of ice cream that you think will work well with your shot. I would stay away from ice cream with big chunks in it (such as chunks of cookie dough), but other than that, there are many options.

This Double Coffee Affogato is for coffee lovers. It starts with coffee ice cream and is topped with espresso. You can buy the coffee ice cream – mocha would be a good choice, too – or use homemade. I opted to use my homemade Cafe Latte Ice Cream, increasing the coffee to two tablespoons for a stronger flavor. If you are using store-bought ice cream, pick a high quality brand like Haagen Dazs (they make my favorite coffee ice cream).

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Homemade Coffee Popsicles

The only thing more refreshing than a big cup of iced coffee on a hot summer day is a coffee popsicle – assuming, of course, that you’re looking to have something with a little caffeine in it as your refresher! These coffee popsicles are easy to make and are probably a little bit better than the popsicles that you got from the ice cream truck as a kid, since they are made with all natural ingredients.

The mix for the popsicles is made with strong coffee, milk, sugar and a touch of vanilla. The finished popsicle is a bit like a plain coffee ice blended drink – good coffee and cream flavors, and a hint of sweetness. You can make it with brewed coffee, espresso or even instant coffee dissolved in hot water, and can alter the ratio of coffee-to-milk to suit your tastes. I also find that foods don’t taste quite as sweet when they are frozen, so I always make this mix a little bit sweeter than I would if I were drinking it hot, and recommend that you do the same for the best results.

I have a variety of popsicle molds in my collection, but you can easily make your own popsicles without a mold by following this tutorial if you don’t have any but want to try these on a hot day!

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Coffee Float

A root beer float is one of my favorite summertime treats. The combination of cold and sweet ice cream with fizzy, spicy root beer is a winner every time. Coffee drinks usually take on a blended form in the summer, but the “float” concept works extremely well with coffee and is right up there with the root beer version for me.

This drink starts with two scoops of good quality vanilla ice cream in a nice, big glass. The better your ice cream, the better your drink is going to be (in other words, save the lower fat stuff for another time). Fill the glass about halfway up with cold milk, then fill it up to the top with chilled black, coffee. Give everything a little stir with a straw and then enjoy. The ice cream adds all the sweetness that your coffee will need and will still keep the drink very refreshing. You don’t need to add any milk and could use all coffee if you really wanted to, but adding that milk highlights the creaminess of the ice cream wonderfully.

This could be a dessert drink, but it is something that I usually prefer to enjoy on a lazy weekend afternoon when I’m sitting outside enjoying the summer weather. I always prefer to use vanilla ice cream (it’s a classic for a float!), but chocolate actually works just as well in this type of drink.

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Starbucks Low Fat Apricot Blueberry Muffin

With the changeover to the new pastries at Starbucks, there are a few favorites that you’re not going to be able to find anymore – at least, not at Starbucks. These missing pastries will vary regionally, according to the suppliers that Starbucks used to use. In my area (LA/Southern California), one that has disappeared is that is the Low Fat Apricot Blueberry Muffin. I tended to favor coffee cake over the muffins most of the time, but this muffin had a great combination of fruit and was generally moist and tasty, especially for a lower fat muffin!

At Baking Bites, I posted a recipe that is very similar, perhaps even a little better, than the original. They’re moist and packed with fruit. The Starbucks muffins I remembered had slices of apricot on top, and I used the same idea here so that it’s easy to identify the components of the muffin. These keep well, but since they’re very fresh, they’re just a little lighter and fluffier than the originals that inspired them.

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Chocolate Cappuccino Chip Cookies

Adding coffee or espresso to a recipe can infuse some coffee flavor, but it tends to be on the mild side unless the recipe can accommodate a lot of it, as Mocha Pudding Cake can. I find that it’s often better to use coffee extract, instant coffee or other coffee-flavored things, like Cappuccino chips. The chips are made by Guittard and have a distinctly milky coffee taste to them. They’re not too sweet, even though they’re made of white chocolate, and add a nice extra boost of flavor to a recipe.

These chocolate chip cookies have real coffee in the dough, as well as cappuccino chips, chocolate chips and white chocolate chips. They’re delicious when they’re still warm, served with milk or coffee, and have a nice chewiness to them even after they’ve cooled. Espresso can be substituted for the coffee, as well.

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