It’s beginning to look (and taste) a lot like Christmas. To add to the festive spirit, De’Longhi Australia have provided some recipes below – assured to whet any coffee-loving appetite.
“What’s so exciting about these Christmas recipes is that they’re also a celebration of the ‘cold brew on demand’ and iced coffee technology that De’Longhi has adopted into two of our espresso machines,” says De’Longhi National Product Trainer, Cheryl Giles.
“The new La Specialista Maestro makes cold brew more accessible to home baristas with its ‘espresso cool’ function while the fully automatic Eletta Explore has a unique cold-milk frothing technology to make perfect espresso-based iced coffees. Both machines cater beautifully to coffee mixology.”
The first recipe that Cheryl provides is a homage to Australia’s Italian heritage: Panettone Affogato.
“This is a perfect recipe for your leftover panettone – if that ever happens in your home!” says Cheryl. “For this recipe we are using the espresso cool recipe on La Specialista Maestro with cold extraction. This way the ice cream melts slowly. However, you can create this with any hot espresso as well – you could perhaps cool your espresso shots slightly in the fridge or at room temperature before pouring it over the ice cream.”
Panettone Affogato
Ingredients
- Leftovers of your favourite Panettone (Cheryl uses Choc Chip Panettone “for extra yum”)
- A large scoop of vanilla bean gelato – this can easily be made with dairy free ice cream as well.
- 1 x shot of espresso cool
Method
- Rip up the panettone into bite sized pieces and place at the bottom of the glass.
- Place a giant scoop of vanilla gelato over the panettone.
- Pour over 1 x espresso cool, or use a double shot if you prefer it strong.
- The espresso cool and ice cream will slowly melt into the panettone. You can choose to dig in straight away or wait a minute to allow everything to melt and mix.
Second in line is a decadent Black Forest Tiramisu, which Cheryl describes as “Christmassy dark chocolate coffee goodness that will bring your carolling to the next level.”
Black Forest Tiramisu
(Serves 4)
Ingredients
- 2 x jars pitted cherries or fresh if in season (if using fresh cherries de-pit and squish them before adding to the glass)
- 6 x espresso shots
- 200ml thickened or heavy cream
- 250g mascarpone
- 4 x tablespoons icing sugar
- 1 x teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 x packet lady finger biscuits
Garnish ingredients
Dark chocolate for grating
Drinking chocolate powder for dusting
Fresh cherries
Method
- Create your espressos and pop them in a jar in the refrigerator to chill. If you have one of De’Longhi’s cold extraction technology machines, you could just create 6 x espresso cool and there is no need to chill.
- Drain juice from the cherries, set aside the juice to create a thick cherry sauce if you want extra cherry flavour (½ cup cherry juice into a small saucepan add 1 tablespoon of cornflour and simmer the juice until a thick sauce results)
- Next whisk the thickened cream until soft peaks form, then add the mascarpone, icing sugar and vanilla extract. Whisk together until smooth fluffy and creamy.
- Soak the lady finger biscuits in the cool coffee – remember not to dunk them too long as they will soak in the espresso fast and start to break up.
- Place the biscuits straight into your serving glasses. We’ll make individual portions.
- Cover the biscuits with grated dark chocolate, a thick layer of the mascarpone, a spoonful of cherries then continue to layer starting with the biscuits again. Finish with a layer of mascarpone to dust chocolate powder and grated chocolate on top and place some fresh cherries or more of the pitted cherries on top.
- Refrigerate for a couple of hours for the best serving temperature.
Next, Cheryl provides a new twist on the Chai Latte, with a special spiced and iced Christmas version suitable to the antipodean summer temperatures.
Christmas Iced and Spiced Latte
Ingredients
-
Image credit: Cameron Kelsall 4 x tablespoons Chai Leaf Tea to make concentrate
- 1 x teaspoon honey
- 6 x ice cubes
- Cold cappuccino mix (Eletta Explore)
- Whipped cream
- Biscuits (Lotus Biscoff recommended)
Method
Brew chai tea concentrate by adding boiling water to the chai leaf tea and letting cool. Then strain this and leave in refrigerator.
When the mix is cool, add 30ml of chai concentrate to a glass. Add honey according to your taste. Then add ice. Using the Eletta Explore, create a cold cappuccino mix to pour over the top of your glass. Top this with whipped cream and crushed up Lotus Biscoff (or similar) biscuits.
For the finale, Cheryl provides a refreshing summer drink that can be used as an alcohol-free alternative to many the Christmas libation, or simply serve as a revitalising spritz on a warm day.
Summer Cold Brew Tonic
(Serves 4)
Ingredients
- Blood orange cut into quarters
- Ice cubes – 6-8 per glass
- 2 x double cold brews made on demand with La Specialista Maestro
- Tonic water of your choice – you could even use blood orange tonic water for a double punch of orange
Method
- Add ice to glass.
- Squeeze blood orange quarter as you add it into the glass.
- Pour tonic to cover the ice and orange.
- Add cold brew coffee to fill the glass, stir and enjoy!
For those interested in gifting a loved one with a domestic coffee machine, De’Longhi have ‘Christmas Bonus’ specials including a promotion on their cold brew La Specialista Maestro and Eletta Explore machines – check out their promotions here.