How to prepare coffee semifreddo

A home-made dessert made without ever switching on the oven: when the hot weather arrives and you want something delicious, the semifreddo is the perfect solution.

It’s easy and quick to prepare, you can keep it in the freezer and personalize it according to your taste by adding fresh fruit or dried fruit, such as hazelnuts, almonds or pistacchios, but also chocolate and naturally, coffee.

Today we are bringing you some recipes so you can create the coffee semifreddo as a cake or in mono-portions.

What is semifreddo?

Semifreddo is a dessert prepared with a biscuit base, whipped cream, Italian style meringue and patissiers cream, which can then be personalized with different flavors.

In contrast to ice-cream, there is no freezing phase which allows the ice crystals to form. This is why the semifreddo is “less cold” than ice-cream.

After the processing, the semifreddo is divided into containers and kept at a temperature between 3.2 F° and – 0.4 F for at least 3 hours and served after resting for 15 minutes at room temperature

The tools you need to have handy

To make a really good semifreddo you don’t need any special tools, only utensils you would normally have in your kitchen at home.

Here’s what you should keep handy.

Food blender

You need this to crumble the cookies for the base, when the recipe requires it, but also for blending fresh or dried fruit. .

Whisk

A manual whisk is perfectly fine, but an electric one will undoubtedly help you achieve a better result in less time.

Bowls

Get yourself some high-sided bowls for mixing the ingredients better and avoid them escaping from the bowl.

Steel containers

These are recommended for storing the semifreddo in the freezer, but in the absence of these you can use mini-cake tins, even in aluminum.

Coffee semifreddo: 3 recipes for every occasion

Now we would like to suggest some recipes for making coffee semifreddo in mono-portions which you can serve serve after lunch, in a mini cake tin, as a tasty snack or, even, served as a real cake for a special occasion.

Glasses of coffee semifreddo

Just blend together eggs, sugar, cream and of course all the natural goodness of coffee: and there you have your mono-portion coffee semifreddo, perfect for dessert after a summer meal.

Ingredients for 4-6 people

• 4 shots of caffè Filicori Zecchini
• 4 egg yolks
• 2.12 oz of sugar
• 1.01 fl oz of fresh cream
• chocolate topping to decorate
• coffee beans to decorate

Method:

1. Prepare the coffee and leave to cool. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sugar using the electric whisk. When you have obtained a clear fluffy mixture, pour in the coffee and continue stirring.
2. Separately, whip the cream, cold from the fridge, and add it a little at a time to the mixture with a spatula mixing it with top-to-bottom movements to avoid deflating it. Divide the mixture into mono-portion cups, cover with cling wrap and put in the freezer for at least three hours
3. Just before serving, remove from the freezer and leave to rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes. Finally, decorate the glasses of coffee semifreddo with chocolate topping and a few coffee beans

Coffee semifreddo without eggs

For this coffee semifreddo without eggs, we recommend using non-dairy cream for a vegan version.

Ingredients for 6-8 people

• 16.91 fl oz of non-dairy cream
• 4 shots of caffè Filicori Zecchini
• 2 spoons of granulated sugar
• coffee beans for decoration
• bitter cocoa powder for decorating

Method

1. To make the coffee semifreddo, prepare the coffee in the mocha, pour the coffee into a large bowl, add the sugar and mix well until the sugar is completely dissolved, then leave to cool.
2. Whip the cream, cold from the fridge, and add it to the coffee a little at a time, stirring gently to avoid deflating the cream.
3. Take a mini cake tin and line it with clear cling wrap, making sure it sticks well to the sides. Pour in the mixture, cover with more cling wrap and put in the freezer for at least three hours
4. Just before serving, remove from the freezer and leave to rest at room temperature for at least 10 minutes. Then, turn out onto a serving plate, remove the cling wrap and decorate your coffee semifreddo with cocoa powder and a few coffee beans.

Coffee semifreddo cake

A cookie crumb base, a coffee cream and a cocoa decoration: this semifreddo looks like a cake, but can actually be made without ever switching on the oven.

Ingredients for 8 people

• 8.82 oz of dry cookies
• 2.12 oz of butter
• 4 egg yolks
• 5.29 oz of sugar
• 6.76 fl oz of milk
• 4 shots of Filicori Zecchini coffee
• 16.91 fl oz of liquid cream
• bitter chocolate powder to decorate
• 2 spoons of chocolate flakes

Method

1. First of all start with the base: put the cookies into the food blender and blend until you get fine crumbs, then pour into a bowl. Melt the butter and pour into the cookie crumbs, then mix well. Take a 24 cm hinge-mold baking tin and line it with baking paper. Arrange the cookie crumbs on the bottom of the tin, leveling out the layer carefully with your hands. Leave in the fridge to rest.
2. Meanwhile, turn your attention to the cream. In a bowl beat the egg yolks with the sugar until light and fluffy. Separately, heat the milk and add the coffee. Then pour it into the egg yolk mix and blend in thoroughly. Cook on a low heat until the mixture thickens and then leave to cool.
3.  Whip the cream and add to the mix a little at a time and stirring gently to avoid deflating the cream. When it is all mixed in well, remove the cookie crumb base from the fridge and pour the coffee cream over the top. Level out using a spatula and put into the freezer for at least four hours.
4. Just before serving, decorate with a light dusting of bitter cocoa powder and a few chocolate flakes after leaving it to rest for at least 15 minutes at room temperature.

Do you like these ideas for making coffee semifreddo?

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