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This holiday dessert features peppermint ice cream drowned in hot cocoa! It’s a unique take on the traditional Italian affogato dessert that uses espresso.
Have you heard of affogato? It’s an Italian word meaning “drowned” — usually referring to a dessert of ice cream drowned in hot espresso. It’s simplicity at its finest – and also one of my favorite ways to end a meal. So you can imagine my delight when I saw on one of my favorite local restaurant’s menus (R bistro) — hot cocoa peppermint ice cream affogato. Peppermint ice cream drowned in hot chocolate? Oh, yes!
Affogato with peppermint ice cream
We decided to re-create the recipe using two of our existing recipes: peppermint ice cream and hot chocolate, and couldn’t be more pleased with the result! If you know us well, you know we’re still working on expanding our repertoire in the sweets area, so this was a big win for us. The dessert is delicious and festive — truly, a perfect wintery treat!
And, this peppermint ice cream happens to be naturally sweetened with either maple syrup or honey! Make sure to find local honey in your area if you can. It’s also dairy-free or vegan, and a good gluten-free option for those of you looking for desserts sans gluten. While we’re not dairy-free or vegan ourselves, we love making ice cream with coconut milk since it’s quick and easy — you don’t need to make a custard on the stove. Or, you can make it with our classic Peppermint Ice Cream.
We were so excited about this peppermint ice cream affogato — we can’t wait for any excuse to make it again.
Looking for Christmas cookie recipes?
Aside from this peppermint ice cream affogato, here are a few of our favorite Christmas recipes — including a lot of Christmas cookies!
- Christmas Cranberry Pudding
- Soft Gingerbread Cookies
- Peppermint Meringues
- Chai Spiced Snowball Cookies
- Ginger Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches
- The Best Soft Ginger Molasses Cookies
- Shortbread Cookies with Chocolate Drizzle
- Cherry Quinoa Chocolate Bark
- Healthy Peanut Butter Buckeye Balls
- Gingersnap Sandwich Cookies
- Cranberry Pistachio Chocolate Clusters
- Easy Peppermint Bark
This recipe is…
This peppermint ice cream and hot cocoa affogato recipe is vegetarian, gluten free, and vegan, dairy free and plant-based using the vegan options.
Peppermint Ice Cream & Hot Cocoa Affogato
This holiday dessert features peppermint ice cream drowned in hot cocoa! It’s a unique take on the traditional Italian affogato dessert that uses espresso.
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Frozen
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
For the peppermint ice cream
- 14-ounce can regular coconut milk
- 14-ounce can light coconut milk
- ½ cup maple syrup or honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons peppermint extract
For the hot cocoa
- 6 tablespoons cocoa powder
- ¼ cup maple syrup or honey
- ½ cup water
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 cups soy milk (or milk)
- Several peppermint candies, for garnish
Instructions
- A few hours prior to serving, make the peppermint ice cream: In a medium bowl, whisk together both cans coconut milk, honey, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract. Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker (or make it without the machine). When complete, freeze the ice cream for 2 to 3 hours to obtain a hard texture.
- Immediately prior to serving, place the ingredients for the hot cocoa in a saucepan and whisk together over low heat until fully combined.
- To serve, crush the peppermint candies. Place a scoop or two of ice cream in a bowl or glass, then sprinkle with peppermint candies. At the table, pour hot chocolate over the ice cream.
Notes
Inspired by Bon Appetit
Would coconut cream work here instead of the coconut milk? So excited to make this! Looks wonderful!
We have not tested this with coconut cream, so are not sure! We’d recommend using coconut milk. Thanks, and hope you try it out! :)
This loos so amazing! My husband would be super excited if I made this, and I appreciate that you didn’t use diary milk. Thank you for sharing!
Absolutely! I hope you enjoy it! :)
Made this for Christmas Eve and it was a major hit with the family! Will definitely make it an annual tradition. I am not the biggest chocolate/peppermint fan but this was amazing!!!! Thanks for a great recipe.