It’s called an affogato and it’s perfect in its simplicity. All you need is a scoop or two of vanilla gelato and a single shot of freshly brewed espresso. While it’s pretty simple to make (pour the hot espresso over gelato), there are a few tricks to making an affogato great:

1. Don’t skimp on the ingredients. The gelato (or ice cream if you prefer) should be good quality and the espresso fresh. Experiment with different flavors if you like. Caramel is delicious and a flavor with a little texture like chocolate chip would work well too.
2. Make sure your gelato is very cold and scoop generously. Otherwise you will have a delicious bowl of cool soup. Chilling the bowl also helps.
3. Make the espresso immediately before serving. Part of the fun of this dessert is the contrast between textures and temperatures. The espresso should be hot and served in something easy to pour.
4. Optional: serve with a straw, unless you’re dining alone, in which case just put the bowl up to your face and drink all that melted deliciousness at the bottom. Waste nothing.

Remember last New Year’s Eve when you nodded off on the couch at 10 o’clock, one hand in a bag of chips? This recipe is dedicated to you. Hopefully you resolved to party. Chilling the espresso is an important step in this recipe (nobody likes a watery drink) and while the drink is sweet enough without it, simple syrup adds a nice froth on top.

Ingredients

1 1/2 oz vodka
3/4 oz coffee liqueur, homemade or store bought
1/4 oz elderflower liqueur
2 shots espresso, chilled
Generous splash simple syrup

Instructions
Add all ingredients to a shaker with plenty of ice. Shake it hard for a good 10 seconds and strain into a cocktail glass.

Adapted from Food & Wine.

Love our new Peppermint Bark coffee? The candy is fun to make, especially the part when you take out your holiday stress on a bag of mints. Working with melted chocolate can be a little tricky, which is why we like this recipe adapted from Jessica In The Kitchen. The addition of coconut oil helps the chocolate behave nicely. Seizing can be an issue when adding peppermint extract to melted white chocolate, but follow this recipe and you won’t have to find out what that means. Give it as gifts, serve it to guests, eat it all by yourself with a cup of coffee. ‘Tis the season.

Ingredients

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
8 ounces white chocolate chips
1 teaspoon coconut oil
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 cup Starlight Mints, crushed

Directions

• Line an 8-inch baking dish with foil.
• Microwave the semi-sweet chocolate chips and ¼ teaspoon coconut oil together in a bowl for 1 minute. Remove and stir. The chips should melt with stirring but if not, microwave in 15 second increments until melted. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract into the chocolate and stir again.
• Pour the chocolate mixture into the bottom of the baking dish and spread to cover. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes to set temporarily.
• After 15 minutes have passed, Melt the white chocolate and the  remaining coconut oil for 1 minute in the microwave. Remove and stir. Microwave for another 15 seconds if not melted, then stir again. Stir in the remaining peppermint extract. Remove the baking dish from the freezer and pour the white chocolate mixture over the solidified semi-sweet chocolate in the baking dish.
• Sprinkle with the crushed mints and place in the fridge.
• Break apart into pieces once the bark has set and store in the fridge.
  Store in the refrigerator.

Does a dessert exist that isn’t improved by caramel? We recommend trying this recipe with apple pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, cheesecake, bundt cake, brownies, ice cream, or skip the vehicle and eat it alone. The original recipe for this caramel sauce calls for Darjeeling black tea, but any black tea would work. Spiced Chai or Earl Grey would make excellent variations. There are three main steps to making caramel sauce: making a cream mixture, caramelizing the sugar, then whisking it all together with the remaining ingredients while everything is still warm.

Ingredients

Creme brulee is very much a special occasion dessert. It’s pretty to look at, otherworldly to eat, and it’s really not all that difficult to make. If you’re intimidated by the kitchen torch thing, just buy one because they’re a lot of fun, and then read this great post on how to caramelize sugar responsibly. Homemade custard impresses the heck out of people and so do fire skills.

Sweet, vanilla-y and slightly smoky, our Creme Brulee has long been one of our most popular coffee flavors, and the dessert itself pairs well with coffee. Our shipping manager Lori recently whipped up a batch so good, we had to share her recipe:

Ingredients (for about six ramekins, 7 to 8 ounces each)

1 quart heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, scraped (substitute 1 tablespoon vanilla extract)
3/4 cups sugar
6 tablespoons superfine sugar
6 extra large egg yolks
2 quarts hot water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Place the heavy cream, vanilla (the bean and the pulp or the extract if using) into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean.

Whisk together the sugar and the egg yolks until well blended. Add the cream to the mixture slowly, stirring continually. Pour into ramekins. Place the ramekins into a large cake pan or roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake just until the creme brulee is just set, approximately 40 to 45 minutes. Refrigerate the ramekins after cooling for at least 2 hours (and up to 3 days).

Before serving, allow the creme brulee to sit unrefrigerated for at least 30 minutes prior to browning. Sprinkle a tablespoon or so of superfine sugar evenly on each ramekin. Using a torch, melt the sugar and form a hard, caramelized top. Feel free to burn it a little if you like that, but work quickly to avoid overheating the custard. Let sit 5 minutes, then crack it and enjoy!