A sea salt caramel affogato may sound fancy but it’s just ice cream and coffee. Pretty straight forward. Choose whatever ice cream flavor makes you happy (and that goes well with coffee, which may eliminate teaberry). The traditional Italian option, of course, is vanilla, but why limit yourself? Feel like using Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked? It will be delicious! Up for Haagen-Dazs’s Ginger Molasses Cookie? Go for it! Breyers Strawberry Ice Cream? Well, maybe not. Not for me anyway. I try to stick with flavors that complement my caffeine.

And speaking of caffeine…if you love coffee – good, strong, lift you up to the heavens-type coffee – this dessert is practically a no-brainer. Besides, with warm weather quickly approaching, who wants their oven and all that heat churning on and on?

making sea salt caramel affogato

Just make some espresso, or some strong coffee, and take out your favorite ice cream from the freezer and you are all set. It’s particularly great for impromptu dinners because you can still end the meal on a sweet note, even without a lick of planning. And  you can’t beat that.

I use a cute little, stove-top moka espresso maker to make mine, but please feel free to use an espresso maker if you have one. Mine, which Erik and I received as a wedding gift, has been in the ‘shop’ for years. Erik refuses to get rid of it because he still manages to believe that he can somehow get it to stop dripping water and steam everywhere when activated. We’ll see…

But if you’re using a moka, just fill up the water canister right up to the steam opening.

Then fill the coffee canister with your favorite roast, making sure it is ground very finely…that’s the only way to make good tasting espresso in a moka, anyway. Make sure to tamp it down gently with the backside of a spoon.

By the way…a word of caution…if you are still familiarizing yourself with making coffee with a moka, please….PLEASE…make sure that the handle is facing out from the source of heat.

When I was first ‘familiarizing’ myself with mine, I didn’t do so and the handle practically melted off. It was a pain in the buttocks to clean and that bad, burnt plastic smell haunted my house for days.

As you wait for the coffee, place 1 generous scoop of ice cream into each of two pretty bowls. Pour ample coffee (about 2 1-oz. shots) over each scoop, and you are good to go.

Serve immediately with, if desired, a fancy cookie or two. Also, for an extra ‘kick’ in flavor, you can add a tablespoon of bourbon, whiskey, brandy or grappa to the mix. It’s delicious either way. Makes 2 servings.