Gingerbread Affogato Recipe

Gingerbread Affogato Recipe One of my favorite treats for the holiday is a dessert the Italians call an Affogato. My Gingerbread Affogato is a touch of hot espresso poured over sweet vanilla Gelato. I sweeten mine up with a splash of hazelnut liqueur and simple syrup that I spiced for the holidays. I start with the simple syrup. I start with one cup of water and one and a half cups of sugar and then I add lots of flavorings to it, basically, the flavorings of ginger bread. So, one and a half and then you basically bring it up to a simmer and let the sugar dissolve then to add the flavorings, two sticks of cinnamon right in there and three cloves. The cloves give it a nice aroma. It makes the whole house smell fantastic, right in there. For a little spice, some ginger. So, I have a one inch piece of ginger and I just cut the skin right off of it. There's something about fresh ginger that’s just so spicy that reminds me of the holidays and it makes this affogato really special. So, I just slice it up and toss it right in there and I give it a quick little stir. You want to let it simmer for five minutes until the sugar dissolves and then let it steep like tea for 20 minutes, so all the flavors infuse together. Now, I made one earlier and it looks just like this. Once the sugar dissolves, it’s nice and thick but what you want to do is strain it first before you use it because you don’t want to have to fish out the cinnamon sticks, the cloves and the ginger. So, you just strain the stuff out and see how nice and thick it is? It’s going to be really yummy. So then I take it and I add -- to make it really festive, two tablespoons of hazelnut liqueur. You can add as much or as little hazelnut liqueur as you like. It depends on how festive you want to be. But it’s really good. This is the kind of dessert you want to make right at the last minute. I'm going to take a little whisk and I just kind of whisk it all together, really flavor that simple syrup. I have my half a cup of espresso, now all I need is my gelato. And really, you could use any flavor of gelato you want or ice cream. But vanilla happens to be the best especially for this one. So, I take some gelato and you just want one or two scoops right in there. We’ll do two scoops just like that. This makes four but I can't wait, so I have to taste it. A little bit about a quarter cup of the hazelnut simple syrup and then comes the hot espresso and you want to make sure it’s hot because it’s the combination of the hot espresso with the cold gelato that makes this absolutely divine. You just pour it right on top just like that. Grab a spoon and you see the hot espresso starts to slowly melt the gelato. You get a little bit of everything in there. That’s a combination of all the flavors together that makes this dessert. It’s so perfect for the holidays. Happy holidays you guys!