Affogato with homemade protein vanilla ice cream
15 min · 18 g protein · 136 cals / serving
The Italian café dessert that needs no recipe, except the ice cream: a creamy vanilla protein ice cream, frozen in ice-cube trays and blitzed smooth just before serving, scooped into small glasses and drowned with a shot of hot espresso so it melts into a bittersweet, coffee-and-cream pool. A few curls of dark chocolate on top.
Ingredients
Ice cream
- 1 1/4 cups skim milk
- 3/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 2/3 scoops whey protein, vanilla
- 1 1/2 tbsp heavy cream
- to taste stevia, about as sweet as 3 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum, optional, for a smoother scoop
To serve
- 4 shots espresso, freshly made and hot (or strong coffee)
- 1 small square dark chocolate 70-85%, shaved with a vegetable peeler
Steps
- Blend the milk, yogurt, protein powder, cream, sweetener, vanilla and xanthan gum until completely smooth, about 30 seconds. (In an ice-cream maker: churn now, then scoop straight into the glasses and skip to step 4.)
- Pour into ice-cube trays and freeze until solid, at least 4 hours. Once frozen, the cubes keep in a freezer bag for a month.
- Just before serving, let the cubes stand 5 minutes, then blitz them in a food processor, scraping down the sides, until smooth and creamy like soft-serve, 1–2 minutes. Scoop into four small glasses or cups.
- Pour a hot shot of espresso over each scoop at the table and top with chocolate shavings. Eat with a spoon before it all melts.
Good to know
Can I use store-bought ice cream?
Of course: a scoop of any vanilla ice cream makes a classic affogato, at about 13 instead of 81. The homemade one is lighter and creamier than most low-calorie tubs, and the frozen cubes keep for a month.
No espresso machine?
Use 1/2 cup very strong coffee from a moka pot or French press, or 2 tsp instant espresso dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water.
For grown-ups
A splash of amaretto or coffee liqueur poured over with the espresso is the classic Italian finish.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 73
- Protein
- (54%)
- 10 g
- Fat
- (20%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (26%)
- 5 g
- of which sugar
- 3 g
- Fiber
- <1 g
- Sodium
- 44 mg
More desserts
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 544 kcal goes into the pot and 747 g of ingredients comes out as about 745 g of food: 73 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.