There’s another, summer-influenced way to consume espresso. Well, yes, the dessert is not made from scratch (if the grinding of the espresso beans doesn’t count), and can be put together within a couple of minutes or so – the time required by the espresso machine to finish its job. But who cares if the dessert is good; and this one is. The ingredients below are just for the reference. You really don’t have to measure the ice cream before transferring it into the glasses. Please, eyeball everything, don’t waste the energy on absolutely unnecessary steps. The dessert will turn out just fine.

Adapted from the latest “Gourmet”

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This one belongs to an instant-type dessert category. Homemade vanilla bean ice cream certainly adds some charm to the dish but, honestly speaking, it can be replaced with a good quality store-bought ice cream with a wonderful result. Tuiles cookies are good as a crunchy accompaniment, but again, any crispy cookie will do just fine.

Adapted from “Desserts by the Yard”

This is an entry for the Click: July 2008 (Coffee and Tea) event.

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I’ve just had two servings of this for breakfast and I feel so happy, not to mention - energized! This is a truly wonderful summer treat for coffeeholics like me. But be aware that each portion contains a serious doze of caffeine. So, if you don’t want to be held responsible for any fatalities, make sure people you are serving it to don’t suffer from elevated blood pressure, or use decaffeinated espresso instead.

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According to Sherry Yard, this is the most popular ice cream among calorie-counting movie stars at “Spago”. No wonder, it’s a guilt-free treat – the ice cream doesn’t contain any egg yolks or cream, it’s basically frozen milk. But, it still tastes good and clean. It’s not lack of ice cream common refreshing purpose. And it crackles so nicely in the mouth because of the generous amount of tiny frozen chocolate specks. There is another benefit to be considered – no need to cook a custard what, during the hot whether, can be a painful experience.

I’m submitting this photo to the You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream for Frozen Desserts event.

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I should have mentioned in my previous post that the rhubarb I used came from my dear and very generous friend Olya. She presented me with a huge bag stuffed with beautiful, bright red organic rhubarb stalks fresh from her garden. I’m extremely grateful to her for such a wonderful gift. And below is another recipe using the rhubarb. The sweet and crisp meringue layers contrast nicely with the creamy and tangy rhubarb-strawberry filling. The whole thing is frozen in a ring mold or a springform pan without any ice-cream maker involvement. Serve the torte with some macerated strawberries for a refreshing summer treat.

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There is another jewel from Alice Medrich’s “Bittersweet”. The book is worth buying for this ice cream recipe along, and for her advice on rescuing seized ganache. The author describes the ice cream flavor as “ rich, clean chocolate … somehow both subtle and dramatic ”. Enough said.

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