Affogato

This is a life Saver

Your guests will love you!

Once upon a time I was invited for a casual meal - post lockdown reunion stuff… I was back ‘at the bay’ after months of isolation ‘by the way’.

I had hoped for a pizza - I hadn’t had one since the previous year and I had high hopes that Dublin would deliver. It wasn’t to be. I wasn’t necessarily expecting desert but a box of choccies was placed ceremoniously on the table. I’ve been saving them for a special occasion, she said.

I’m not sure what they were - but I wasn’t overly excited … I think I just hoped there would be a caramel keg or maybe a toffee … they certainly weren’t handmade or Belgian! But, alas, on opening the box the longevity of the ‘saving them’ rendered them partially melted and utterly inedible …. I was happy enough.

I’ll get something else, she said. Now if it was one step down from melted chocolates … I was thinking it might be a McVities Goldgrain or there was a chink of hope for a wrapped biscuit from the kids lunch box stash.

So imagine my surprise and delight when I saw a bottle of Baileys emerging from the drinks cabinet. Then this was followed by some trusty HB Ice Cream … and we were even getting coffee! This was already a result ….

A moment of mild confusion came when, as I raised my glass to my lips, I was ordered to pour the Baileys into the ice cream … but it was only a moment because If you are a child of the 70s or 80s you know only too well the delights of a ‘Coke Float’ and how you can up the deliciousness and enjoyment factor of ice cream by firing other delicious special occasion drinks in on top of it.

Simple and Delicious

If you have fancy bowls glasses or dishes - great but it tastes so good you can use short fat water glasses or even mugs to serve this in!

Put a few scoops of ice cream - nice vanilla in to whatever you are serving in.

You will need 2 shot glasses to go on the side of each dish. For small numbers I have espresso cups that I use, or little Indian glasses but for larger numbers I keep a little stack of cheap shot glasses that I got just for this purpose!

The idea is that you use Espresso in this but the easy trick is to make strong plunger coffee. Have the coffee in the French Press ready to put the water in. You need a shot for each person.

Then in the other shot glass you put an Irish Cream Liquer like Baileys.

Serve a shot of each on the side and when everyone has their dessert - you all pour both shots over the ice cream and scoop, slurp or stir and drink your way through the delicious mixture.

If you want to get fancy,
You could serve a small shot of Amaretto too or have some chocolate shavings on standby to sprinkle on the ice cream before you serve it.

Or if you have some Biscotti or Amaretti biscuits that you got as a gift and never used or you bought in a mad sale in Lidl - then by all means serve them on the side.

I haven't tried it but for Halloween it might be an idea to pour spiced rum over some ice cream -

And if you are looking for a way to use up that bottle of Tequila that's clogging up the Bar Cart .. serve 2 scoops of lemon sorbet with shots of Tequila on the side.