Including some incredible flavor combinations.
If you’re entertaining, serving ice cream or sorbet for dessert is almost guaranteed to please a crowd. But whether you’re hosting a holiday party or just spending time with family, you may feel compelled to do something a little more unique than plopping scoops into bowls — especially during the holiday season, when sweet treats take on even more magic.
To educate ourselves in all things ice cream, we recently spoke to Hallie Meyer, founder of New York-based, Italian-inspired ice cream shop Caffe Panna. If you’ve never visited their shop, purchased their flavors at specialty grocers like Butterfield Market, or ordered pints on Goldbelly (the shop delivers nationally with flavors changing every five weeks), all you need to do is check out Panna’s Instagram to see that it’s a very special place. Since they make their ice cream in-house, the shop’s menu of sundaes and flavors changes daily, with updates posted on social media.
“I’ve been obsessed with ice cream my whole life,” Meyer says. “I grew up in a family in the restaurant business and always knew I wanted to have my own space.” After working in kitchens in Italy, she fell in love with that country’s gelaterias that also served as coffee bars — plus, she became seasoned in working with ingredients that she had on hand.
When we asked how to maximize our ice cream experience for low-effort yet impressive dishes, Meyer suggested choosing either an affogato or basic sundae format. She defines regular sundaes as made up of “ice cream, crunch, drizzle, and panna” — panna being the all-important whipped cream. (Her shop imports their cream from Italy and whips it in house, but that step is very much optional for at-home sundae makers.) An affogato features the same base, except at the end of construction, you’ll “drown the whole thing in a shot of hot espresso.” Either way, the key is integrating different flavors, textures, and temperatures into your dessert.
If you’re in a caffeinated mood, Meyer advises that “the kind of flavors that will go well in affogato sundaes are the kind that go well with coffee.” She recommends starting with a warm, nutty crunch like toasted almonds, crushed cookies, or candied pecans — that crunch prevents melted ice cream from pooling in the bottom of your dish. Then add two scoops of ice cream: “If you’re going in the coffee direction, choose something chocolatey, nutty, or cookie,” says Meyer, like a dark chocolate and peanut butter swirl. She suggests adding bittersweet chocolate chunks and whipped cream before drizzling the whole shebang with melted chocolate and a shot of espresso. (If you’re excited about this idea but need at-home coffee bar advice, we’ve got another expert on deck to help.)
For a sundae that goes beyond the basic, Meyer recommends pairing chopped fruit and (surprisingly) olive oil: “Olive oil is beautiful because you can really taste it on the canvas of the ice cream.” Once again, she likes to start with a crunchy base like crushed cookies or candied nuts before adding one scoop of your favorite brand of vanilla. Finish with whipped cream, a sprinkle of sea salt, drizzle with high-quality olive oil, and add fresh fruit topped with a little honey.
If you’re excited about the potential of traditional holiday flavors, Meyers says you can’t go wrong with mixing flavors like gingerbread, hazelnut, and cocoa in any form. (And you can order a Caffe Panna Winter Ice Cream Six Pack that includes the Nutty Gingerbread Man flavor — a piedmontese hazelnut and cocoa ice cream with cookie butter ganache, gingerbread cookie dough, and housemade chocolate coated Biscoff cookies.)
Once you’re an expert at experimenting with the mixture of crunch, ice cream, whipped cream, toppings, and drizzle, you can start branching out and playing with different flavors and ingredients. But no matter which materials you have on hand, Meyer says that ice cream is a blank canvas that can be as creative — or lusciously simple — as you want it to be.
