A simple dessert

This concoction is a good reason to keep ice cream and coffee on hand. If you find yourself with unexpected guests, a large crowd, or if you just forgot to plan for something sweet, simply brew some coffee, and you’re seconds away from a lovely, elegant dessert.

We used French roast coffee and plain Jane vanilla ice cream. The dessert is topped with bits of caramelized cacao nibs from Cocoa Puro Kakawa Chocolate, a vendor at the farmer’s market. We’ve also made this recipe and placed biscotti or mini cookies on the side. Choose something decadent to give it that certain je ne sais quoi. And yes, I was just looking for an excuse to type je ne sais quoi.

Coffee Ice Cream

Serves 4.

• 8 scoops of vanilla ice cream
• 1 cup coffee or espresso
• 8 small cookies (or you can use a dark chocolate topping, as we did)

First, make the coffee or espresso. Something strong works best, since the ice cream will take the edge off anyway. Put two scoops of ice cream into each bowl. Pour 1/4 cup espresso over it, and add the cookies to the side or sprinkle on your topping of choice. Viola!